Band Aids Don't Fix Bullet Holes
by CopperMax
Summary: Michelle "Mitch" Jabari is not known for being particularly sane, but she's damn good at her job, whatever it is- Soldier, Sniper, Special Agent. She may not be gentle, but she's loyal to a fault. When John McGarrett is killed, Steve really should have known better than to think she'd let him go seeking vengeance, at least not on his own. Steve X Mitch. Eventual M rating.
1. Pilot Part 1

**EPISODE 1 "Pilot"**

* * *

"You sure about this?" he asked.

"The hell? Of course I'm sure, you dumbass. I said I'd help; I'm helping," she snapped, following him through the cleanly manicured lawn of his deceased father's house.

"Alright. I just- I know if the FBI caught wind of this-" his voice was deep and vaguely concerned.

"Fuck the FBI, Steve. I know," she said. Then she sighed, "I just- I'm done. I'm done with the Army, I'm done with the FBI. I just- I can't-" She hadn't stayed anywhere for more than a year since she first joined the army, since her unit was killed and she was recruited to execute black ops missions as a sniper.

"I got it, Mitch," he cut her off, one large tanned hand gently gripping her elbow. She paused, Steve had a way of calming her thoughts with just a touch.

"C'mon," she said, looking around. "We gotta move."

They ducked under the yellow caution tape around the back door and into the house. Steve took it all in quickly, the house, how it used to be and how it was. Mitch followed the footsteps as Steve crouched to take a picture, planting her smaller boot next to each bloody print. She estimated each was about a size nine in men's. Looking up, she noticed it led to the desk. She sat in the chair and held up her hands, not touching anything. Enough space was cleared on the desk for a rather large laptop. _A 13-inch?_ She wondered if maybe any prints were left behind.

"Steve," she called, never having to explain a thing. He looked at her and then took a few large quick steps over to a shelf with a few model cars. He bent down, picking up a small tube labeled "Wheel Lube".

"What is that?" she questioned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Move over."

He squirted the strange silver colored, she thought it looked like glitter, over the desk. "Oh," she sounded, seeing exactly what he was doing now that she knew what was in the bottle. She leaned forward and gently blew out a breath, the glitter flying away except for where it stuck to fingerprints on the very edge of the desk. "And BINGO was his name-o," she sang quietly.

The tension in the room was thick, but he almost smiled when she sang.

His father was dead, there would be no fixing that- not even if they did kill the Son of a Bitch who shot the man. _Still, maybe it'd help a little_ , she thought. He'd need time to heal. But she didn't like the severe look on Steve's face and she didn't know how to help him. She wished she did. No one had been there when her Father was killed. Not even her brother. She supposed that was another thing they had in common. Steve's sister Mary was nowhere to be found either.

She knew how it was to go through a father's death alone. _But Steve wasn't alone_ , she thought. Steve had her, if that counted for anything.

She didn't know how to help people. She just knew how to hurt people. She knew how to hunt people down. She knew how to put a bullet between their eyes. So she'd help him get Hesse, the root of the problem, the murder, and then maybe it wouldn't help. But then again, maybe it would. Maybe, with Hesse gone, Steve'd feel a little better. She doubted it, but killing Hesse couldn't hurt.

When she followed him into the garage she pulled back a dusty tarp, uncovering a beautiful, black Mercury, which unfortunately, didn't look to be in working order. "She's a beaut," Mitch stated. Despite knowing nothing about cars, she could appreciate a classic when she saw one.

"My Dad bought it to fix up together," Steve said, his voice rough as he stared at the shiny paint, "but we never…"

He didn't finish the sentence, and she didn't push him to, instead turning her head to examine the shelves. Her fingers skimmed over the edge as she walked slowly. She heard shuffling behind her and turned to see Steve roughly handling a red tool box. 'CHAMP' was written across the front in thick black lettering. He fiddled with the opening, drawing back the lid.

"Steve?" she asked gently.

"He called me Champ," he said, "He called me Champ on the phone. Not once in my entire life has he called me Champ," Steve almost rambled. It was out of character for him. It made her worry.

"Okay," she cut him off gently, "So he wanted you to find this. What's in it?"

He pulled out a skeleton key, antique looking. She wondered what that could fit. Then a tape recorder. He clicked it.

"I can't continue this investigation into the police department from the inside," it said in Steve's father, John McGarrett's voice. She hesitantly reached over, her fingers wrapping around his wrist. The tension in his body lessened, but did not ease completely. Still, she stood by. "I don't trust the people I work with, so I'm gonna have to do this on my own. It's all about the key," he said. Steve and Mitch locked eyes and then both started at the little gold skeleton key. "I just don't know what it's for. I have only-"

A door closed and both government trained employees jumped, heads swerving to the source.

"-been able to find two source…" Steve clicked the recorder off. They had to go.

"You!" a voice shouted. Steve and Mitch both pulled guns out of holsters on their hips and aimed at the on-comer. "Hands up!" he shouted, "Don't move!"

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

"Who are _you_?" the blond man repeated coming into view, "I am Detective Danny Williams-"

"Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett! This is my father's house!"

"Put your weapons down right now."

"No, you put your weapons down-" as the other man began to demand ID Steve shouted, "Show me your ID!"

"-your ID right now!" the other man finished.

"I'm not putting my gun down," Steve said.

"Neither am I," the rather-obviously-a-cop retorted.

"Jesus Christ," Mitch sighed, rolling her eyes and lowering her gun. She knew Steve would shoot the other guy for her if he tried anything, not that she expected him to. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her leather wallet. Her FBI badge and credentials, including that of her army status were on display as she stepped around Steve and held it out to the man. "I'm FBI Special Agent Michelle Jabari. Steve's Navy," she jerked her thumb in his direction. "We good?" she asked impatiently.

The cop nodded, but his eyes flickered towards McGarrett and his gun.

"Put 'em away boys," she insisted. Steve raised an eyebrow at her tone of voice but didn't lower his gun.

"At the same time," they repeated after one another.

"What, like on the count of three?" the cop asked.

"This is ridiculous," Mitch sighed, stepping out of the line of fire, back towards the toolbox on the worktable.

"Sure, on the count of three," Steve agreed.

"One…" they lowered their weapons slightly, "Two," pointing at each other's feet, "Three." They holstered their weapons and each reached for their back pockets, pulling out IDs and briefly flashing them at one another.

"Look," the detective spoke, "I'm really sorry about your father but you can't be here right now," he spoke to Steve, "This is an active crime scene."

"Doesn't seem that active," Steve said, sounding surly and aggressive as he gestured to the emptiness of the house.

"I can't share any information with you," the other man spoke emphatically.

"Hesse wasn't here alone when my father was murdered," Steve trumped the other man's voice. "Someone was sitting in the desk by the study-"

"-space cleared for 13-inch laptop," Mitch continued.

"And my father hated computers," Steve finished.

"I'm gonna ask you again," the short man spoke, "You got to leave."

Mitch's head tilted slightly to the side, "That wasn't a question."

Steve just grabbed the toolbox and shrugged, "You got it." Hastily, she swept her arms over the dusty table, trying to disturb the pattern where a rectangle was left behind in the box's absence.

"And you can leave the box, that is evidence. You know that."

"I came with this," Steve blatantly lied as they tried to walk out.

"No, you didn't come with it- it stirred up a giant dust cloud. What's in the box?"

Suddenly, Steve smiled. She rolled her eyes. It was the taunting outsiders, 'You're a touristy mainlander' smile that all the locals had. Lord knew she fit in better than this guy. In his collared shirt and tie, leather loafers and slacks, he had mainlander cop written all over him. At least she had dressed down.

"None of your business," the guy predictably clammed up, eyebrows furrowing in what was probably both surprise and frustration. "None of your business. What are you, Barbara Walters?"

Then the smile faded, fast and harsh, Steve's expression turning stony. "No, it is my business if you're investigating my father's death."

"I am and I'd like to get back to that," the detective stood taller, "so the sooner you leave, the sooner I can."

"Anything you say, Blondie," she grinned, arm looping slightly around Steve's as they turned to walk out.

"Leave the box or get arrested, alright," the cop demanded, pointing angrily.

"You gonna call for backup?" Steve asked, not an ounce of fear or second-thought on his face. God, she loved that stupid, fierce, fearlessness about him. It was reckless and bordered on suicidal at times, but she could relate. They said she had it too.

"An ambulance," the guy said, surprising her.

Steve merely laid the box on the back of the tarp covered car.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Steve said as he pulled out his phone. Her eyebrows furrowed, then released as a large amused smile crept over her face. She grinned giddily at the cop. He was gonna _love_ this.

Something about that unnatural gleam in the woman's eyes and the navy man's unyielding attitude suddenly worried him. "What are you doin'?" he asked with narrowed eyes, a wrinkle arising in his forehead.

"Uh yeah, Governor Jameson, please" Steve said, phone to his ear please. "Tell her it's Steve McGarrett."

God, she loved being right.

"Oh, please," the cop scoffed.

"Just you wait, Blondie," Mitch laughed.

He eyes her warily, wondering who the hell she was as she leaned casually against the covered car, grinning in a way that was closer to scary than friendly.

"You're kidding me," the blond said, shaking his head as Steve persisted, holding the phone to his ear in an uncharacteristic display of patience.

Mitch covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Steve rolled his eyes at her and spoke, "Governor," he greeted the woman on the other side of the phone. "I'll take the job," he said. "Let's just say I found something to change my mind. I'll transfer to the reserves and I'll run your task force."

Suddenly the blond perked up, surprised. Mitch had figured Steve'd take the job. He loved the marines, he loved his country, but he was a little like her- never able to settle. He was always on the move, trying new things. Onward and Upward. She just didn't like standing still or getting too comfortable. Comfort bread complacency. She was not complacent. _Plus_ , she thought, _the Governor was giving him the means to go after his father's murdered- means and immunity_. It was a luxury she was never afforded. Granted, her father was killed when she was a sophomore in high school. She hadn't been ready for hunting down terrorists quite then.

"What, right now?" he asked. He looked at Mitch. Her eyes narrowed, unable to hear the Governor's words. "Okay," he said, watched as her head tilted curiously to the side, her long brown hair spilling over her shoulders. "I, Steven J. McGarrett-"

Her eyes blew wide as she stepped backward, looking suddenly to the cop, who had thrown his hands in the air and shook his head.

"What the fuck?" she mouth to Steve who only shook his head and continued the pledge.

"-do solemnly declare upon my honor and conscience that I will act at all times to the best of my ability and knowledge in a manner befitting of an officer of the law. Thank you, Governor."

Then he grabbed the Champ toolbox. Mitch shook her head. It was an accomplishment when he startled _her_.

"Now it's my crime scene," he said, and walked out. Mitch laughed the whole way as she followed.

* * *

 _A/N: So, this is the first chapter, a bit of a teaser. This story will follow the show most literally, though it will include outside scenarios and blips between my OC, Steve, and the rest of the team. Lemme know what you think, that's all I ask._


	2. Pilot Part 2

**EPISODE 1 "Pilot"**

Part 2

* * *

It was pouring outside by the time they swung back around to the detective's apartment. "Uh-uh," she shook her head at Steve with a frown, "You damaged his manly pride, you got get him on your team." She propped her feet up on the dash and leaned the seat back, gesturing to the door.

"Your team too," Steve fixed her with a steady look.

She looked away, scoffing. "I'm on vacation," she said, "technically still employed by the FBI."

He rolled his eyes. "Michelle-"

"Steven," she interrupted, calling him by his first name as well.

He looked at her for a moment, held her gaze, then shook his head and stepped out, holding the flimsy though protected file over his head. She laughed, closing her eyes and enjoying her small victory. They had swung by the precinct earlier. Blondie's higher up said he'd requested a wire on someone named Fred Doran and Steve wanted more information. She was also more than a little certain that Steve had been pleasantly surprised with the mainlander cop's ability and reputation. Plus, he hadn't been cowed by Steve's imposing nature, opting instead to fight right back. Steve was bound to like him.

Suddenly, her door was open and she was pelted in the face with rain.

"Ugh! You're an asshole," she shouted, slammed the door and following him to the porch just as Blondie, excuse her, _Detective Danny Williams_ , opened the door, looking less than amused.

"Tell me about him," Steve said, referring to Doran and all but barging in the house.

"Come in," Danny said belatedly, holding the door open as Mitch followed.

"This your kid?" Steve asked, looking at a small, cute photograph of a little brown-haired girl and the detective.

"She's cute," Mitch almost smiled.

"Yeah, that's stunning detective work," the Jersey cop said sarcastically.

"You don't actually let her," Steve paused looking vaguely around the rather shitty apartment, "stay here with you, do you?"

"What are you two?" the cop asked, "Nanny 911?"

"Bite me, Jersey," she rolled her had had to admit his apartment looked like it could house more than one infectious disease. And it wasn't even his fault.

His eyes narrowed at her, wondering where she got her information. She wondered how long it would take him to figure out she, too, was a mainlander.

They let the topic drop as Steve pressed on with the more pressing matters. "So, what do you know about this guy… Doran?" he said, pulling the man's photo out of the folder he carried.

"Oh, surely you don't need my help, right?" Danny snarked.

"Enlighten me."

"He's a suspected arms dealer," Danny explained, "Two years Maui Correctional for weapons possession. Currently a person of interest on an unrelated homicide. The weapon was never found."

"So, what's he got to do with McGarrett's case?" Mitch questioned.

"When I ran a ballistics comparison of bullet that killed your dad, I got a hit to the Doran investigation. I think the first thing that Hesse did when he got on the island was hook up with Doran and get a gun."

"Maybe Doran still knows where he is," Steve said and with a small nod of his head, motioned to the door, "So let's go talk to him."

She grinned, Danny Williams was going to be fun to torture.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the cop hopped up after them. "Excuse me, are you suffering from dementia? This is no longer my case."

"Your Captain said you transferred in from New Jersey six months ago. So your eye's still fresh," Steve began. She was going to wait a little while before ribbing the guy about New Jersey. She herself was originally from New York.

"You know, uh, I appreciate it, but my psych eval's not for six weeks."

"Fold-out bed, no ring on your finger," Mitch listed blandly, "You obviously moved here to be closer to your daughter." It didn't take a profiler to figure that out and she'd met some of the best profilers out there. "Means between visits, all you got is your job; You take pride in it."

"That's what I'm looking for," Steve confirmed.

"Yeah, but you know what?" Danny said snidely.

"What?" Steve paused.

"Guys like you think they know how to do everything better, and that only makes my job harder." She raised her eyebrows, knowing he couldn't even begin to comprehend how wrong he was. There were no 'guys like' Steve. There just weren't. Steve was weird as fuck— one of a kind.

"You got no choice, detective," Steve said, "Governor gave me jurisdiction and I'm making you my partner. We're gonna get along great."

She would have laughed if she didn't think it'd scare Danny even more.

* * *

They let the Detective drive and as such she got relegated to the backseat. She took the opportunity to childishly bump the back of Steve's seat to see how long it'd take him to break. Three times, before he grabbed her ankle and threatened to toss her out of the vehicle via the window. She scoffed, a smirk on her face. "I dare you, McGarrett."

Danny's phone cut them off, the theme from "Psycho" playing but he declined the call.

"I take it your marriage didn't end too well," Steve probed.

Right for the personal questions, no of easing into it. Steve was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. She liked that about him. It made her laugh. He was a no bullshit kind of guy and for someone whose life had been one shit storm after another, she could appreciate the forthright attitude, even if it could make he seem like and insensitive asshole. He wasn't. But some people didn't appreciate the cold hard truth like she did.

"No. It would have," the cop said, "had my ex not remarried and dragged my daughter to this pineapple-infested hellhole."

It was an uncommon description of what most people called a paradise. "You don't like the beach?" Mitch questioned, sitting up and sticking her head between the seats. Her interest was peaked. She was also mildly offended. She _adored_ the beach. Steve smirked.

"I don't like the beach," Danny confirmed.

"Who doesn't like the beach?" Mitch looked personally offended by his harsh confirmation and it only served to amuse Steve more than she usually did.

Danny looked a little startled. "I like, uh, cities, you know?" He said, "Skyscrapers, no tsunamis, no jellyfish."

"Tell me you can swim," Steve said. It would be just his luck to find the only cop on the island who couldn't swim.

"Can I _swim_?"

"You don't know how to swim."

"I swim for survival," Danny said, "not for fun."

"All right," Steve relented.

The ringtone played again. This time, Danny answered it. "Yes, dear?" he answered, voice hard and frown set. Then suddenly, it melted into a goofy sort of grin, "Hey monkey." She assumed it was his daughter. "No, no, no, I thought you were your mom. I am so glad that everybody liked Mr. Hoppy. I'm excited too, babe, we're gonna have so much fun this weekend. Hey, Danno loves you."

"Danno?" she mouthed, looking at Steve with a smile. He shrugged. Daddy Danny was cute.

"Who's Danno?" Steve asked. She smacked his arm, glaring at him, but he only shrugged. Sometimes the man was beyond pushy.

"Don't," Danny said, ignoring their interaction.

After a moment he looked back at Michelle. "Who are you anyway? How'd you get messed up in this?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him, tilting her head to the side.

"She's a friend," Steve said simply, though his voice was tough.

There was some sort of threat in there, Danny was sure. He just didn't know what kind. "And you what? Just _decided_ to hunt down Steve's father with him?" he asked her. She had to be crazy.

She only shrugged, resting on elbow on Steve's seat. "Pretty much. It's not unlike what I did in the army… hunt people down and well," she trailed off. "You get it."

His eyes narrowed at her. "Where are you from?" He asked almost suspiciously. There was something familiar about her voice, the way she spoke.

Grinning, she responded. "Why you grillin' me, Jersey?" The phrase spilled from her lips with an extra bit of attitude, her native accent sounding just a bit more prominent than usual.

"You're from the mainland," he recognized. "New York City"

She laughed. "Good ears, Jersey boy."

"Oh great," he said, shaking his head and then looking back at her. "Move a whole ocean away and I still can't get away from you lunatics."

She scoffed. "Like you're any more sane, Mr. I-don't-like-the-beach. Who doesn't like the beach?"

Danny shook his head as Michelle went on with her beach rant and Jersey bashing. Steve got the feeling she was messing with him and as time went by Danny seemed to realize it too.

The blond cop grinned.

* * *

 _A/N: Special thank you to_ _Texas50Fan,_ _lizzy-marie0623,_ _tex08craze and_ _jonesdeere88 for the Favorite/Follows. Lemme know what you think?_


	3. Pilot Part 3

**EPISODE 1 "Pilot"**

Part 3

* * *

Steve and Mitch got out of the car once Danny stopped in front of the rather shabby looking stilted house, but he called them back, saying, "Hey, hey, hey. Doran's a shooter. We shouldn't be doing this without backup."

"You are the backup," Steve said, Mitch's musical, but vaguely maniacal laughter following him.

"I'm the backup?" the cop repeated to himself, shaking his head. "I hate them," he said to himself. "I hate them so much." Slamming the door behind him, he followed the pair up to the house. "Hey. Hey, slow down, huh?" Danny said.

"You ruined my life," a woman screamed. Mitch met Steve's eyes, as they ducked close to the wall of the home, climbing the stairs quietly.

"Shut your trap," a man responded angrily.

"What do you mean, shut my trap?"

"I- You know what?" His anger only seemed to grow. They were moving around, strange thudding and shuffling heard outside. "You need to be quiet. Sit down."

As the woman stepped outside, Danny grabbed her, wrapping a hand around her mouth to cover her words and pulling her out of the way as Steve and Mitch up the stairs to enter.

"Get your ass back here," the man continued to yell. "Tracy? Tracy?"

Then, the blonde bit Danny, causing him to let go. Running in front of the door, she yelled, "Cops," just as a the man began firing.

Mitch dove aside, same as Steve, nearly tackling him to the said. He pushed her up off of him and held tight to his gun. "Danny?" She shouted.

He looked to be clutching at his shoulder. "I'm fine. Go, go, go!" he shouted. He must have only been grazed.

They didn't hesitate, both she and Steve followed the shooter through the house, hearing the gunshots and moving faster. Broken glass coated the floor of one of the bedrooms in the back. He had shot out the glass and jumped onto the garbage heap to break his fall. She and Steve followed, out the back and around the fencing, between two shop stalls by the road, and then they saw him. Steve, jumping out the way of a large fender-bender just in time.

Doran had grabbed a woman from a sitting truck, and held his gun to her face. "Put your gun down." He was talking to Steve. He hadn't seen her yet.

"We don't have to do this."

"I said, put the gun down." Steve didn't move.

Mitch moved slowly around the vehicles, looking for a vantage point where she could shoot Doran without injuring the woman.

"You sold a weapon to a man named Victor Hesse. I'm not after you, I want him."

"I'm not talking," he shouted, nearly shaking.

"Where is he?" Steve asked again.

"I said, I'm not talking to you," he yelled. "Put the gun down or I'll kill her." He pressed the gun into her temple as she trembled, crying. "Don't think I'll do it? I'll do it. I'll kill her right now," he told them, screaming, shaking in his rage.

She cursed, unable to find a clear line of sight from her current angle- the woman kept moving too much. She didn't want to kill the guy, just main him. If she had gone around back... Suddenly, a gun fired, Doran falling forward, dead, the glass behind his head shattered. Danny had gone around back, firing a single shot into the back of Doran's head.

* * *

"I hope it hurts," Tracy seethed as she stalked by the ambulance tending to Danny's mild gunshot wound. He'd only been lightly grazed. He rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Michelle and Steve swept the house with flashlights. Her end seemed to be nothing but trash and old furniture. It stunk like sex and drugs, so she tried not to think about it too much. Still, there were worse things. Much worse things.

"Michelle," Steve said. She paused, startled by the use of her true name. His flashlight was trained on a mattress pressed up against a door.

"Let's see what's behind door number one," she mused, pulling the screwdriver from the latched and swinging open the door, Steve's gun trained on the opening. Inside, a dark haired, pretty and thin young girl in a pink tank top trembled, eyes blown wide at the sight of Steve's gun. "It's okay," Mitch plastered a small reassuring smile on her face, bending down to the girl's level and holding out her hands, "It's okay." Steve nodded behind her as the girl calmed. "What's your name?" Mitch asked gently, but there was no response. The girl looked confused.

Steve tried again, this time in a different language, "Ni jiao shen ma ming z?"

"Chen Chi," the girl answered, her voice hoarse as she looked between the two of them.

"Chen Chi," Steve repeated as Mitch neared the girl, reaching for the tie that bound her hand together. "Chen Chi. Gen wo lai." She leaned towards him as Michelle untied her hands, suddenly clutching onto the FBI woman and Steve's sleeve.

Michelle, brushed her fingers through the girl's hair and carried her outside, Steve gently questioning her all the while.

"Okay, she smuggled in four days ago in a cargo ship from China with her parents, a couple hundred refugees," Steve summarized as the spoke to Danny afterwards, the girl now in the police's hands, safe. Hopefully, they could track down these traffickers and find her parents.

"She gets here, she's traded to Doran," Mitch finished. "So we find the miserable sack of shit who traded her." There was venom in her voice, but Steve didn't disagree. He nodded harshly. The both of them pacing, talking and ignoring the agitated cop beside them.

"Okay. Excuse me, I'm sorry. This typically where you would, uh, say thank you for saving your life," Danny interrupted, looking at directly Steve.

"You just shot my only lead," Steve brushed him aside angrily. Mitch didn't mention that if Danny hadn't she would have, though, admittedly not in the head. A shoulder or leg shot, maybe a good one to the the side would have stopped him without killing him, leaving Steve the opportunity to question the guy.

"Are you kidding me?" Danny exclaimed.

Michelle had the sudden feeling that dealing with these two was going to be like herding cats- impossible and frustrating.

"If these are the same guys that are moving people out of Asia, they could've smuggled Hesse in," Steve's brain-train was moving a mile a minute and it wasn't stopping for Danny to hop on.

"You just took a stupid risk, okay?" the blond demanded. She, in a way, understood where he was coming from. He was used to the routine, the straight and narrow. He was used to red tape and rules, a right way and a wrong way. Steve had always been under do or die kind of pressure, now or never situations that demanded timely decisions and often forced his hand. He was brutal but effective. He didn't know how to be any other way. The FBI had beat some of that out of her, but when it came down to it, 'brutal but effective' was her natural go to. "Understand that," Danny insisted. "I am not getting myself killed for your vendetta! I have a daughter, okay?"

"Yeah, that girl there is someone's daughter too," Steve gestured angrily back towards the police cars and the little girl with the scared brown eyes.

"You don't get it," Danny shook his head. "For somebody who lost his father, you're pretty dense." That was too far, too fresh a wound to be jabbing at.

"Hey!" she shouted, eyes suddenly narrowing at the blonde detective as Steve bristled. She jabbed at the man's chest, getting between the two. They were about the same height. It allowed her to glare directly into his blue eyes as she spoke,"Back off."

"What did you say?" Steve said, eyes hard as he zeroed in on the other man over Michelle's head. "What did you just say to me? What if she was yours, huh?" He nudge Mitch to the side, ignoring the pull on his arm where she was attempting to detract from his focus. "Is there anything that you would not do to hunt down the son of a bitch that did that to her?"

"Do not question my resolve," the Danny pointed at Steve, the two of them too close for comfort as they fought.

"One warning," Steve uttered, "Take your finger out of my face."

"Listen to me, you son of a bitch," talked about Steve.

"Steve," she warned, "Don't-"

She saw it coming. As soon as Danny put his hand in Steve's face she saw it coming. But it was too late. Steve grabbed the Jersey cop's forearm with both hands and bent it painfully backward forcing the blond man to bend over forward or break his arm. "Aah! Aah!"

"What I tell you?" Steve said, leaning over the man, "I warned you."

"You a ninja?" Danny sounded outraged.

Mitch threw her hands up in frustration. "Goddammit Steven," she cursed, then moved around the pair and began fielding the cops, ushering them away from the unusual scene with the assurance that everything was 'just fine thank you. They'd call if they had a problem.'

"And In front of all these nice people," Steve continued. Danny grunted in pain.

"Steve," Mitch barked angrily back at him, her eyes dark and eyebrows drawn down into a glare.

"One second," he shot back, then turned back to Danny, the blond's arm still bent backward awkwardly. "Now, you don't have to like me, but right now, there's no one else to do this job."

"Okay, let me go." He sounded fine, if a bit angry, though, mostly, he just sounded tired.

"Look, we need to find these human traffickers," Steve began, moving away from the other man.

Then she heard the distinct sound of knuckles hitting skin, the dull sticky thud of a punch, and whipped around to see Danny standing tall and Steve half-bent over, clutching at his nose with one hand.

"You're right, I don't like you," he said and walked away.

"Son of a…"

" _I told you_ to stop doing that to people," she shouted at him, hands balling into fists. He waved his hand at her as if to brush her off. She poked her elbow harshly at his kidney, between the ribs, not enough force to hurt, just to stall him. He knew she could do damage should she want to, this was just to get his attention. She wasn't one to be ignored.

"Do not," she emphasized, "piss off the _one_ cop on the island I might be able to talk baseball with," she all but growled. Hawaii was lovely and beautiful and fresh, but she had yet to come across a single baseball fan and she needed someone to watch the games with her. She was a die hard fan of her home team. McGarrett wasn't cutting it. He had attempted to sit through the games with her in the name of friendship, but it was just painfully obvious that he didn't care. He got bored too easily, having no stake in the game or the players.

"What-" he began.

"He's from Jersey," she said, "Which means A. I can torture him cause I'm from New York." He rolled his eyes. "and B. He definitely went to a game at Yankee Stadium."

Steve just sighed, hands on her waist nudging her back towards the car as be followed after her.

* * *

 _A/N: Review, please?_

* * *

Bronwyn P: Thanks for your review! I'm glad you like it so far! Lemme know what you think as I get further in!

lizzy-marie062: Mitch messing with Danny will come in more after the pilot episode. She has to make sure he's going to stick around before she can really torture him. ya know, as friends do :)

Guest: Could you leave some sort of name s I can respond properly to your reviews? Thanks for commenting, by the way. Lemme know what you think.

chelsnichole12: Lo and behold, friend! More has come. I'm a slow and unreliable updater, meaning i'll update fanatically for a month and then I'll vanish, but I always come back! so don't give up on me! I always come back!

* * *

 _Special thanks to everyone who has favorited or followed this story!_


	4. Pilot Part 4

**Episode 1 "Pilot"**

Part 4

* * *

"How's the arm?" McGarrett asked after about thirty seconds of awkward silence.

Danny was driving again. "Let's just not talk."

"You mean right now or ever again?" Steve asked. He sounded like a middle schooler but she refrained from commenting, curious as to Jersey's response.

"Just both, okay?

"You know, I think I might know why your wife left you," Steve said, looking out the window and then back to Danny.

"Jesus," Mitch cursed, closing her eyes briefly.

"Really?" the blond bristled.

"Yeah, you're very sensitive," Steve told the other man. ' _Said Daddy-Issues McGee_ ' Michelle thought savagely, but again, said nothing, turning to watch the scenery out the window and hoping the conversation would die.

"Sensitive?" Danny repeated, "I'm sensitive, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah. You think I'm sensitive?" Danny was getting worked up again. She wasn't sure she could blame him.

"Well, A little bit."

She sighed. No one matter what, they couldn't say Steve wasn't an honest asshole, at least.

"When did you come to the conclusion I was sensitive, huh? When a bullet was tearing through my flesh?" He seemed more angry about that than the 'sensitive' comment. She supposed it was worrying that gunshot wounds and blood didn't worry her in the slightest. Potential death was just a part of life. It was a bigger part in her line of work, a bigger part if you were Steve's friend, but then again, it was the same with her. She was crazy. _Too bad Blondie seemed normal_ , she thought. "Is that when I seemed sensitive to you, huh? I'm really happy that you two aren't afraid of anything, okay? I'm glad you two have that G. thousand-yard stare from chasing shoe bombers around the world, okay? But in civilized society, we have rules, all right? It's the unspoken glue that separates us from jackals and hyenas."

She took it back. Danny wasn't normal. Normal people didn't make analogies like that. She almost laughed.

"All right? Jackals, hyenas?" Steve repeated, looking back at an increasingly amused Mitch. There was something wrong in her brain, she knew. Seeing people this worked up and agitated shouldn't be amusing, it shouldn't be funny, but damn if Danny wasn't the funniest thing she'd seen all year.

"Animal Planet. Whatever, okay?" The cop conceded, "The point is rule number one: If you get somebody shot, you apologize-"

"I'm sorry," Steve said, but Danny didn't hear, instead, going on with his rant.

"-You don't wait for a special occasion…"

"I'm sorry."

"...Okay? Like birthdays…"

"Sorry."

"Or freakin' Presidents' Day."

"Hey, man, I'm sorry, okay?" Steve said, "I said, I'm sorry. I'm sincerely sorry. That's what I was trying to tell you," he said, "last year, when this conversation first started."

Mitch grinned.

"Your, uh, apology is noted. Acceptance is pending," Danny said.

She snorted in amusement. Danny looked at her in the rear view mirror, "And you! I have no idea what your game is, but this isn't funny!"

She nodded, but there was still an upturned quirk to her lips as she sad, "Of course," in a placating voice. Danny thought she sounded normal, Steve saw right through it. There wasn't a professional or polite bone in Michelle Jabari's body- it was amazing the army hadn't chucked her out.

Still, he could admit, he liked the woman. She'd grown on him during their joint mission three years ago and ever since they'd been calling each other for favors, back and forth. Tic for a Tac. Occasionally they met up just to talk. She took him out to dinner in Virginia. He took a trip off base to meet her in North Carolina when she mentioned she was nearby. They kept in touch.

He asked her to help him hunt down the man who killed his father. She took all of her vacation days and slapped 'em down on her boss desk, flying out to see him the next day.

She was different, Michelle, but she was a good kind of different. His kind of different.

"Yeah," Danny said, eyes back on the road, still sulking.

Steve shook his head, "Well, You let me know." His eyes darted up to the rear view mirror, spotting Mitch chewing her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, I'll let you know."

"Make the next left here."

"Why?"

"I think I know someone who can help us," Steve said, leaning forward.

* * *

"Her name is Chen Chi," Mitch said, showing the photo to the sharp featured man in front of her. Steve said his name as Chin, that he used to be his dad's partner, that they were good friends. Steve's endorsement was more than enough in her book, so she didn't give him the third degree.

"Where'd you find her?"

"Locked in a house," she explained. "She came here to start a new life. They turned her into a prostitute."

"Guy we're looking for is high-profile, Victor Hesse," Steve said. He sat across from her at the small diner, next to the Hawaiian native, leaving her beside a still-fuming Danny Williams. "CIA, FBI, Interpol, he's on everyone's radar. He didn't just land here and get his passport stamped. He was back-channeled in."

"Okay," the man said, "You think the same network that brought this girl smuggled Hesse in?"

Mitch nodded as Steve said, "He made a fortune trafficking kids out of Malaysia, so…"

"Then you're looking for a snakehead," the guy said. "Local Chinese gangs that specialize in human smuggling.

"We need a name," Mitch said.

"What, you kidding?" Chin gestured to his gift-shop work shirt, "Look at me. I'm a rubber gun now."

"Come on, you were on the force for fifteen years," Danny said.

"Okay, look, I know a guy who's got ties to that world, but-"

"Great, get us an intro," Mitch and Steve said in unison, both staring at each other afterward in accusation before shaking their heads and getting back to it.

"Forget it. He's a former confidential informant. He trusts no one, especially _haoles_." She rolled her eyes, that was the third time today someone had called her that. And she didn't even look as out of place as Danny did.

"You talk to him then," Steve said.

"I'm busy," the man's expression hardened.

"Expecting a crime wave in the gift shop this afternoon?" Danny asked, prodding at the man.

"Look, I can't be a cop anymore."

"Why not?" Mitch demanded.

"Because I can't be," he said flatly, though there was a righteous kind of fire in his eyes. "You understand? H.P.D. accused me of taking payoffs. So I'm the last person the department wants to see wearing a badge." He paused, angry. "I gotta go." He stood up to leave.

Mitch shook her head, jaw locking angrily. He didn't seem the type to betray his badge or his people.

"This is going really well," Danny shook his head.

"Did you take the money?" Steve stood. His voice was hard, final.

"Excuse me?" The man turned back.

"Did you take the money?"

"No," he said. Mitch believed him, nodding at Steve to continue.

"Then come with us," Steve said, "and we don't need to talk about this again, ever. This is your ticket back into the game. Call it payback, call it whatever you want, I don't care, but I need you."

"How do you know you can trust me?" Chin asked.

"Because my old man did."

* * *

"Hey, Kamekona," Chin grinned, reaching out to clasp hands and briefly man-hug -free hands slapping down on each other's backs- a large tan skinned man with a bald head and a round face. "How's it?"

"Good to see you, my brother," the large man smiled.

"Hey, bro, I need a name."

Kamekona's eyes shifted to the three agents standing to the side. "They wait out there," he said. Mitch rolled her eyes, but accepted it- as long as they got their info. "After they pay," he continued. "Three cones, three T-shirts to go."

She raised her eyebrows, gesturing for Steve to go ahead. "I'm on vacation," she smirked.

He shook his head, but there was a small sort of upturn to his lips. Danny looked between them in confusion, his eyes lingering on the smug little smile on Michelle's lips, as Steve reached back and pulled his wallet out of his pants, opening it to fish for the needed cash "Medium and a Small," he said. She grinned.

"XL and up, bro," Kamekona said, holding up a blue shirt with his face and company logo splashed across the front. "My face don't fit on anything smaller."

"How much kala, bulleh?" Steve asked. She had no idea what the hell that was supposed to mean, but that wasn't surprising with Steve. He often slipped into Hawaiian lingo she had yet to pick up.

"You speak bird, huh?" The informant turn shaved-ice-business man asked, looking mildly surprised.

"Yeah, I grew up here," Steve revealed.

"It don't matter," he said, "you still look haole to me." Steve didn't look phased. He handed him the bill.

"This one feels a little bit lonely, bro," the guy smiled. "Cool," he nodded when Steve handed over another bill after an encouraging nod from Chin. "One more thing I need you two fine white gentlemen to do," he paused and smiled at Mitch, "and lady."

She got the feeling she wasn't going to like this and whispered as much to Steve.

She sighed, leaning against Danny's silver Camaro between the two men, working slowly on a bright blue cup of shaved ice. "I was right," she said.

"What?" Steve asked, a bright red shaved ice in his hand. He looked ridiculous in the too-big blue shirt, drowning his other clothes- like a little boy wearing his dad's shirt.

"I don't like this."

He snorted, and looked down at her. The XL shirt nearly swallowed her whole. The bottom hem came down almost to her knees, her left shoulder poking out of the head hole while the supposed 'short' sleeves bunched, hanging around her elbows.

Danny had a similar problem, but it more pronounced on her slimmer body.

"Are you a cop?" A little dark haired girl in a red and white striped tank top asked, looking up at Steve.

"No," he hesitated, shuffling awkwardly. He wasn't used to children.

"Well, you look like a cop," she said.

"You like cotton candy?" He asked, "Go find your mom."

"I don't like cotton candy," she shook her head and didn't budge one inch.

Mitch looked at at him in amusement. "Yeah, Steve, she doesn't like cotton candy." The glare he directed at her was more long-suffering than threatening.

"I got something you might like, okay?" Danny smiled nicely at her. "How about," he began, fishing in the backseat of his car for something. Mitch tilted her head curiously, scooping some of the bright blue shaved ice into her mouth.

She wasn't expecting him to pull out a giant stuffed pink bunny.

"How about that?" He asked her.

"What the-" she began.

The little girl cut her off, exclaiming, "Yeah, thanks!"

"You're welcome." He smiled, waving as she left.

"What the actual fuck?" She asked him. "You just _had_ a giant stuffed bunny in-"

Just as Danny opened his mouth to respond, Chin Ho's laughter interrupted them as he approached.

Steve shook his head. "You better have a name," Mitch told him seriously, but the threat in her eyes was lessened somewhat by the light blue shirt hanging off her shoulders like a ten-sizes too big dress and her blue-stained lips.

* * *

"Sang Min," Chin told them. "Came here from China eight years ago. According to my man, Kamekona, runs the island's human import-export business."

"So Hesse could have used him to get on or off the island," Steve put together, nodding thoughtfully, his mouth set into a firm line. Her eyes flickered towards him, worried. This case was personal. Too personal. It worried her but she knew his head was in the game. He was focused.

"Let's say this guy is for real," Danny proposed, hand out palms up, "he's got no reason to tell us where Hesse is."

"We find some leverage, twist his arm with it," Steve said.

"Define leverage."

"Simple bait and trap," Mitch explained, looking away from Steve. "Wire up an undercover, send him in."

"Only one problem, malihini," Chin pointed out. "That might work on the mainland, but we're on an island with less than a million people, which means the bad guys know the good guys. So we need to look for our bait outside the box."

"I take it you have the perfect guy in mind?" Steve assumed.

Chin grinned, "Oh, yeah."

* * *

 _A/N: So... I'm thinking I'm going to be updating about once a week. Lemme know what you think! :)_

* * *

Bronwyn P: I'm glad you like Michelle! I'm going for genuine good person, with a touch of insensitive humor, snark, and a big ol' dose of crazy loyalty.

Melfris: Glad you're enjoying the story so far, lemme know what you think as it progresses!


	5. Pilot Part 5

Episode 1 "Pilot"

Part 5

* * *

There," Chin smiled, pointing to a darkly tanned, wire thin but fit looking girl with shoulder length dark brown hair surfing in a blue bikini.

"That's your cousin?" Danny asked, eyes blowing wide. Steve too looked surprised, but he said nothing. Mitch snorted in amusement.

"Choose your next words carefully," Chin said. "Both of you."

"Well, she's very talented," Danny covered,

"Oh, she's off the charts," Chin grinned, a look of absolute pride washing over him. Mitch watched him. She wondered if this girl knew how much her cousin loved her. "Spent three years on the pro circuit before she blew out her knee. Kid was devastated- had to reinvent herself, decided to wear a badge. Graduates from the police academy in a week." His smiled fell suddenly, "Unfortunately, she's family, which means H.P.D. will never take her seriously."

Mitch frowned, Steve told her about the ex-cop's run in with internal affairs and the false accusations which had ruined his career. She cringed when another surfer cut the girl off, causing both of them to tumble, ass of teakettle into the water.

"Are you sure she's ready for this?" Steve asked seriously as the girl stormed up the shore after the long-haired guy who'd caused the accident. "She's got no street experience."

"Hello, bro," she smiled fakely as he turned around. Mitch's mouth dropped open in an unbelieving laugh when the girl drew back and punched him right in the face, causing him to fall back into the sand, clutching at his nose. "Think twice next time you wanna drop in on someone's wave."

"Cousin," Chin greeted as she approached.

"Ha!" She smiled brightly.

"Oh, you had it, water woman," he laughed.

"Waste," she shook her head, "first good pipe of the season. "Double-Overheads."

"Tourists," Chin shrugged, "What you gonna do?" he asked. Then he turned, gesturing first to Steve. "Kono, meet Commander Steve McGarrett," then Jersey, as Mitch silently dubbed him, "Detective Danny Williams, and," he paused at Mitch, unsure of her title.

"Special Agent Lieutenant Michelle Jabari," she greeted. "It's a bit of a mouthful, so call me Mitch. Nice right cross, by the way."

"No, man, that was a love tap," Kono laughed.

"Hi," Danny nodded, shaking the girls hand for a bit too long.

"That's good, bro," Chin said, obviously amused.

"Sure."

"Your cousin tells us you're graduating from the police academy next week," Steve interrupted. "How would you like to earn a little extra credit before you do?"

"I'm listening," she said, brushing back her hair.

* * *

"Yo," Danny greeted, walking into the room, "Spoke to Chin, he's setting up the meet with Sang Min. I got that surveillance equipment you asked for."

"Good," Mitch modded, but didn't look at him, still scrutinizing the man on Steve's computer screen.

"You recognize this guy?" Steve asked, moving aside to let Danny see.

"No, Who is it?"

"Jovan Etienne," Mitch said in a flawless french accented voice. "File says he worked for the Russians as a computer programmer in SVR," she summarized.

"He was here when my father was murdered," Steve said stonily. "I found his palm prints in the study, partial boot prints in here."

"Wait, how do you know the boot prints didn't belong to Hesse?" Danny asked.

"Hesse wears a Size 11 like me, except double E," Steve rattled off automatically. "The prints I found were smaller. Hesse gets his footwork custom made. Direct-injected polyurethane mid-sole with a natural all-rubber out-sole." It was scarily detailed, but that happened when you chased a man for over two years.  
"Oh," Danny's eyes widened. 'Your, uh, brain must be a miserable place." He paused and shook his head, "I need a beer."

* * *

"You ever gonna tell me what Danno means?" Steve interrupted, riding shotgun once again, having forcefully nudged Michelle to the back.

"Yeah," Danny said, "when you tell me what's in the box."

He obviously wasn't expecting Steve to say anything, his eyebrows raising slightly when Steve responded. "Truth is, I don't know yet. All I know is that my father wanted me to find it. Right now it's just a puzzle."

"Me and Grace, we like puzzles."

Mitch smiled softly, he really loved his little girl.

"You're a good father," Steve said.

"Yeah, maybe," Danny said, his voice lessons hostile or guarded than what seemed usual. "I don't know. You know, there's three ways of looking at it," he said. "One: I could get myself killed chasing some meth-head scumbag, then what kind of father would I be?"

"I always looked up to my father for that" Steve said, "You know, the sacrifices he made. I'm sure Grace is gonna feel the same way."

"My father died in the line of duty," she revealed softly. Steve looked at her in surprise, personal tid-bits weren't usually her style, but something told her Danny needed it. "I never held it against him… just tried to live up to the memory. "

"Yeah, maybe," Danny thought aloud, "Either that or she might think I'm just a selfish son of a bitch. Because the truth is... this is all I got. I need this. I wanna do what I'm good at, I wanna be reminded I'm good at what I do. If that means having to put up with your twisted belief that you are never wrong, so be it."

"So, what's the third?" Steve asked.

"Well, even if I tell myself this isn't permanent, this is Grace's home now," he said, "It's my job to keep it safe."

She smiled. Danny was dedicated, she'd give him that.

* * *

Steve phone rang, the obnoxious, preset present ringtone blaring until he accepted the call. "Yeah?" He answered. "Alright. Good work."

"What do you got?" Danny asked.

"That was Chin," Steve said. "Sang Min bought the pitch. He meets Kono tomorrow morning."

"Still no guarantee he's gonna tell where Hesse is," Danny pointed out.

"He has to," Steve said, jaw set sternly. "This is the only chance I have of finding the man who killed my father."

Her fingers crept over his shoulder, squeezing lightly. "We'll figure it out, Steve."

* * *

 _A/N: So weekly updates? Sort of._

* * *

Bronwyn: Your review absolutely made my life. I can't even put into words how much I loved hearing what you thought. I am super super slow to update but I promise there will be Mitch X Kono badassery to come in further chapters and episodes.


	6. Pilot Part 6

Episode 1 "Pilot"

Part 6 - long chapter

(WARNING: rapey vibes)

* * *

"All right, guys, Kono's in play," Steve said as they stood in the van, concealed just outside the warehouse. Chin had up a video feed of the inside- men scattered around the inside as Kono walked in wearing a dull thin purple dress. "Here we go."

"Okay, kid," Chin talked though she couldn't hear. They hadn't risked a wire, but it was making her slightly worried. "Just get him to say how he's smuggling these people off the island."

"My friend says you need help," Sang Min said, his voice nasally and high, accent prominent. Hi hair was slicked back in a mullet-style fashion. He practically screamed criminal in his black suit and shiny undershirt.

"I have an aunt and uncle in Nanjing," Kono's voice wavered delicately, "They would very much like to live here."

"I can have your family here within a week," he said, nearing her. "Getting them out of China is easy. Paying for it, that's the hard part."

"I have money," she said softly.

'Do you mind if I ask what you do?" He asked.

"I work at the cannery on Pacific and weekends as a housekeeper at the Royal Hawaiian," answered as discussed beforehand.

"Two jobs, very commendable," he nodded. "Only I'm afraid the kind of money we're talking about might be out of your reach. Unless, of course," he reached out to her, his fingers carding through her hair. "We find some other form of payment.

Mitch couldn't see his facial features in the infrared free, but she imagined his face pinched, as he rubbed his finger together, "Sand. What kind of person working two jobs has time to go to the beach?"

"Pull the plug, get her out of there," Danny said.

Mitch tensed.

"Relax, the kid can handle herself," Chin assured.

"If he smells trap, he's gonna kill her, all right?" Danny sounded worried.

"Trust me," Chin said at the same time that Mitch quietly added, "Give her a minute."

"I surf during my lunch hour," she lied.

"Or maybe you're a cop," Sang Min said. "Did anyone check her for a wire?"

"We checked her when she came in," one of the men to the sides answered.

"Maybe you missed it," he hissed. "Take off your dress," he said, "so I know you're not wearing a wire." Pausing, she did as he said, drawing her dress up and over her head, leaving her in a pair of plain underwear and a bra. Mitch's jaw clenched as Sang Min nodded, saying, "Turn around."

"I'd like to put my dress back on now," Kono said as Sang Min turned and walked back to what looked like a desk and sat down in a chair.

He held up a phone.

"What are you? What are you doing?" She asked, flinching slightly as he snapped a photo of her.

"Gonna send this photo to a friend of mine," he said

"Okay, we got a wire on that phone," Mitch said quickly.

"Trace the call, Danny," Steve said, his voice urgent.

"He's gonna show it to his friends," Sang Min continued. "If anyone recognizes you-"

"Mobile number. Unlisted," Danny said.

"-You're dead." Min finished.

"You got a location?" Mitch asked, her voice tight. They needed that info to stop Kono's cover from being blown.

"Danny?" Steve pressed.

"Ringing inside my precinct," Danny said, a muscle in his jaw clicking.

"You got a mole," Steve said. God damn, but she hate dirty cops— selling out their friends, their brothers who'd die for them for a quick buck.

Sang Min's phone buzzed.

"We gotta move," Chin said urgently, standing up quickly.

And with that they drove that vehicle right through the wall, bursting on on the scene just as Kono took out one of the men, crouching down to check his pulse and grab his gun

"You're early," she said.

"Oh yeah?" Mitch grinned at the younger woman. "You all right?" She asked just as Chin came to check on his cousin.

"Down, down on the floor now," Danny demanded of a the few left standing. "Down. Put your hands behind your back."

Sang Min ran out the side, hoping the gunmen would distract them. But she and Steve caught him, chasing after without a moment's hesitation. He ducked into his car and sped out into the street, pulling out in front of a large vehicle that plowed right into him, horn blaring. She was just in time to see him crash.

"Hey, let me see your hands," Steve trained his gun on the door. "Keep your hands on the steering wheel."

Michelle resorted to backing him up, gun held firmly as she followed behind him.

"Out of the car right now. Hands behind your head."

There were more than a few kidnapped and abused people hidden in those walls. Their team and the police worked together and gathered them all, working to get names and stories. Two of the trafficked people, a husband a wife were missing their daughter, a teenage girl. McGarrett and she exchanged a glance, both calling over the nearest police officer and asking him to get Chen Chi.

Steve coaxed her out of the car with a gentle hand a soft words in her native tongue.

Then she saw her parents. "Mama!" She cried, a smile splitting her face.

 _These are the good days_ , she thought.

* * *

"Getting them out of China is easy. Paying for it, that's the hard part," Chin showed Sang Min his recorded voice. The criminal was tied up and helpless, at the mercy of their team. He glared up at the ex-HPD officer.

"Laser audio surveillance," Chin continued. "You don't need a wire to get a confession out of your hupo ass," he said.

The human trafficker scoffed, "I'm gonna sue you for entrapment," he spat. "And when I'm done collecting, I'm gonna find that little hottie you sent in here, and this time, I'm gonna be less of a gentleman."

Chin punched him, muttering a half-hearted, "Sorry, boss," as he stood.

Steve didn't falter. "I didn't see anything," he said.

"You didn't see anything?" Sang Min yelled angrily, "Son of a bitch hit me!"

"You wanna file a report, you'll need a witness. Do you wanna file a report?" Steve asked blandly, voice bordering on threatening.

"I wanna go to jail now."

"Where is he? Where's Hesse?" He demanded, but Sang said nothing.

"What about your wife and kid?" Mitch questioned, but there was ice in her cold dark eyes. "You know where they are?" She paused. Sang Min's jaw clenched. "I do," she said. "She's getting her nails done on Kalakaua Avenue. Nice place, real relaxing."

"And your boy is at his private school in Diamond Head," Steve added. Sang Min shifted. "Wonder what he's gonna think when he finds out Daddy takes kids just like him and puts them on the street to be pumped full of black tar heroin then sold to strangers like animals." Steve voice was hard like rock. He was threatening and vigilant.

Mitch wasn't any better. Those eyes of her looked sharp enough to kill. Sang had never seen cops like them.

"You're going to jail. That part's not up for negotiation," Steve said. "Your family is about to lose a husband and a father. In my eyes, now they're your victims too. The trouble is the law doesn't see it that way."

"Your wife?" Mitch interjected, a cruel upturn to her lips that wasn't happy in the slightest. It was pure threat. "She's from Rwanda. She'll be sent back. They both will. If they're lucky, they'll make it to a refugee camp," she listed, "And your son?" She stepped back, "Well, seven's old enough to hold a gun for the Hutu militia."

"I can prevent all that," Steve said, watching as the man faltered. "But I don't help people who don't help me."

"What kind of cops are you?" He bit out.

"The new kind."

Then he fessed up.

* * *

As they sped to port, McGarrett called the Governor. Not for the first time, it crossed Mitch's mind she was doing this on her leave time. She was on vacation right now, and yet she was still hunting bad guys. Still, this time, it felt more right. She felt like she belonged.

"Sang Min put Hesse on a cargo ship headed for China: The Emma Karl," Steve told the Governor point-blank, phone on speaker and his eyes on the road.

"Do not even think about-" her voice was high and harsh.

"You wanted a task force that would do whatever was necessary. You promised immunity and means," he reminded her.

"No, no. Not to provoke a diplomatic incident by boarding a Chinese freighter headed for international waters."

"If China is caught smuggling a terrorist," Mitch said, sounding calmer and more matter-of-fact than even Steve, which surprised the hell out of Danny, unused to hearing the almost professional, though still laced with annoyance, tone spilling from her mouth. "They won't say a word."

"Who is-"

"Doesn't matter, FBI. She's with me," Steve winked at her. For a second she looked at Danny in the rear-view, watching his expression. "I did my job, Governor," Steve said, "I found Hesse. Now you do yours. Tell the Coast Guard to block the port. That ship is not going anywhere."

The 'Psycho' sound starting playing, a sound Mitch was coming to associate specially with calls that put Danny in a bad mood. "Son of a bitch," he cursed, fumbling for his phone. "Yeah?" he said, putting it to his head. "Rachel? Rachel, don't start with me. I left you two messages telling you you need to pick her up. Don't tell me you had to change your plans!" his voice rose. "You send the driver for her half the time anyway. I can't-" he shook his head. "I can't do that right now," he said, frustrated. "I'm in the middle of something. Please stop for a second." His voice grew softer, "Can you just do me one favor? Just tell Gra- Tell Grace Danno loves her, all right?"

Mitch smiled softly at him in the rear-view and he pointed ignored her gaze. Danny was a sweetheart underneath all that male bravado, a total teddy bear. Steve looked at him expectantly. "Okay," Danny broke, "Gracie was three. She tried to say my name, and all that she could say was Danno. That's all that came out, Danno, okay?"

"That's it?" Steve questioned. Mitch pinched his shoulder for the depreciating tone and smiled brightly as she could at Danny. Poor guy needed some positivity in his life. That usually wasn't her forte. Still, she could try.

"That's it."

"It's cute," Stever said.

"Adorable actually," Mitch grinned.

"Shut up," Danny told them.

"Why can't I think it's cute?" He asked. She decided Steve McGarrett, tough guy extraordinaire, navy SEAL, and task force leader, by all accounts a total ten, saying the word 'cute' was her favorite thing in the universe.

"Don't," Danny said, "because I don't need you thinking about it. It's between me and my daughter."

"All right," Steve shrugged. He wasn't going to listen. It was the same "all right" he gave when she told him never to call her not to talk to her after their first mission. She couldn't even remember what that fight was about, but she was glad he'd ignored her, kept poking and prodding at her until they were what they are now. He was terrible at first impressions.

"There it is, the Emma Karl," Mitch pointed out.

"Taking off," Danny added, "How you wanna do this?" he asked Steve.

"Right," he said, looking resigned as both government agents pulled out their guns.

"Hold on," Steve revved the engine.

There was a ramp, leading from the dock up to the boat. In a minute, they wouldn't line up, but at the moment, they did. Danny reached upward to touch the roof of the car, shouting "All right," as Steve sped straight up the ramp and onto the boat, ignoring the guns that stuck out from cover to shoot at them. "Cover me, I'm gonna find Hesse," Steve said, opening the door.

"Careful, Steve," she reminded him, opening her door as well, taking out the guy behind the car, just as Steve's window shattered.

Danny followed suit. She took one of the dead men's rifles and shot the man behind her, taking aim at Steve. He nodded at her, but otherwise, left to complete his task as she and Danny staid to clean the place up, drawing their fire and taking out as many as they could.

She went for higher ground as Danny stalked around the bottom of the containers, firing up at any who shot at him. She ducked behind some machinery as gunshots fired. At the break between clips, she ducked out and fired quickly, watching the man fall backward, dead.

"Steve!" she shouted, watching Hesse jump up on top of a contained closer to the water. She hoped he could hear her over the gun fire. She had two shooters trained on her, but that meant they weren't firing at Steve so it was okay.

She took out one of the gunmen, diving behind new cover and glanced back just in time to Hesse's bullet hit the corner of Steve's vest. Her eyes widened, but she couldn't help, a bullet passing a hair's breadth from her arm. She jumped up on the other side and took out the last gunman, hearing him shout in pain and then fall with a thud to the ground.

When she turned, there was another, gunless, but out to kill her all the same. He knocked the large gun from her grasp, but wasn't quick enough to block her attack. She punched him in the face, knocking him backward and then kicked out, but he caught her leg and threw off her balance, tossing her to the ground. She swept his legs out from under him and turned for a second to grab her gun, but it must have fallen down a level. He moved to tackle her, but she dodged to the side, using his momentum to shoved him headfirst into some machinery. He groaned, fumbling for a knife at his belt.

"Don't do it," she said, backing up a step and unhooking the strap across the top of her holster that had kept the gun on her right hip in place, the one on her left had gone over the side when she was knocked to the ground.

He grabbed it, standing up and lunged, brandishing it at her, just as she raised her gun. She shot him point-blank. She caught her breath, staring down at his body, feeling somewhat numb. Then she turned, looking over to see Steve on the ground, Hesse on the edge. She raised her gun, but Steve beat her two it.

He fired two slugs into the man's chest, his body falling over the side and into the clear water below.

* * *

 _There's something you should know about your brother," Steve panted, lying on top of that storage container, breathing hard._  
 _"What about him?" the man all but growled._

 _"He died the same way you did," Steve said, lifting his gun and firing two shots into the man's chest. His body fell back into the water and disappeared by the time Steve got up to see._

* * *

Last he'd seen she'd been firing on two gunmen locked onto her location, now, she was standing, a dead man at her feet, looking over at him with the same vague concern on her face she always had. He understood. He felt the same, the same look was probably in his eyes. He knew she'd be fine. She was well-trained and tough. She'd been through hell, she could handle a gunmen, but in the back of his mind, it didn't matter. She was a friend, a close friend and he didn't want her hurt.

He knew she was worried about him- how he was feeling about all of this, where his head was at. He figured he was handling about as well as could be expected. He was angry, but not like he had been.

Actually, he was worried about her.

She had this cloud over her head, a strange sort of complex where she thought everything was her fault. She blamed herself for everything. Each new scarring incident had her running to a new organization. From the army, to Black Ops, to each different FBI unit she served with, and now here. She spent her vacation days on him, on this, but he knew she was looking for more.

She was looking for different.

She looked in her element, gun in hand, hair windblown and messy. She nodded at him and began walking towards a ladder that would lead her down to the ground. He heard shouting and neared the edge to see Danny pointing his gun at a wounded man on the ground.

"Put your hands behind your back," Danny demanded of the man who'd been shooting at him. He kept moving. "Don't make me shoot you again."

Steve peeked over the storage container down at Danny. "Hey, get the Coast Guard to find that body."

"What do you want me to do with this one?"

"Book him, Danno," Steve said.

"What did I tell you about that?" Danny asked and looked back down the man, groaned as he scooted across the ground an inch at a time. "Where are you trying to go? Where? Where? Go ahead." He rolled his eyes, "Do you want me to shoot you? Stop, just stop."

* * *

 _A/N: Another chapter done! First episode is almost finished. Lemme know what you thought! Reviews mean the world to me!_

 _Also... this was a long chapter so the next one is super short and will be up in a few days._

* * *

Bronwyn P: Mitch and Kono will be a total duo of girl power and badassery! And LOL with the hair product thing! You are so right though, with Mitch in the mix Steve's over protectiveness is gonna be pushed to the limit and its gonna chafe with her a bit, which means Danny's gonna be in the middle of their fights :/ Let me know what you think of this chapter!


	7. Pilot Part 7

Episode 1 "Pilot"

Part 7

* * *

Michelle didn't want to leave him alone, hopped up on painkillers that the EMTs had force fed him when they realized he'd been shot, so he stuck by his side as he entered the precinct, a knowing little smile on her face, despite the slight bruising from the small altercation on the boat. "Stop," Steve said, glancing over at her.

"It's sweet," she smiled. He made an audible noise of disgust and shook his head. "I'm just being honest," she said, "You're real sweet when you wanna be." She looked up at him, noting the way he was staring straight ahead. "You're a good guy, Steve."

"Shut up," he said.

"Kay, nevermind," she added flippantly. "You're an asshole, forget I said anything," she laughed, drawing one from him as well, the heaviness around his eyes seeming to lift.

"Hey," Mitch said, knocking lightly on the glass outside of the office space Danny was moving out of in the precinct as they neared. He would be working at headquarters with Steve, Kono, and Chin now.

She had an apartment waiting in Virginia, she thought as Steve stepped forwards and laid the three rectangular papers on his desk. At Quantico, she thought again. She had a job and a team waiting, though each went on just fine without her.

"What, uh? What is this?" Danny asked, holding the pinkish-orange colored passes up for them to see.

"Three nights at the Kahala Hotel," Steve said. "Look, I know you're gonna say no-"

"Yeah. What is it with you and my living arrangements?"

"Grace is coming over this weekend, right?" Mitch interrupted pointedly, trying to get Danny to see what Steve was attempting to do.

"Yeah," the father admitted.

"Okay," Steve said, "So I heard this place has a pool, you can swim with the dolphins," he seemed to trail off, "Just take it."

"Hey," Danny said, eyeing the purple bruising along the left side of Steve's face, the gauze around his arm and the temporary sling. "Oh, you look, ah. You look really bad."

"Thank you," Steve said sarcastically, nodding along.

"You're welcome," Danny almost smiled, then, looking at the passes in his hand, said, sincerely this time, "Thank you."

* * *

After hours, when all was said and done, they sat around that weird cool-ass computer table in their swanky headquarters —Mitch thought she could really get used to this— and they drank. Steve and Kono stood, Chin, and Danny sitting in chairs while Mitch lounged back, her elbow brushing against Steve's thigh as an armrest they laughed.

"Okay, guys," Kono said, "Honestly, I think we need a name."

"A name?" Steve asked.

"What kind?" Danny questioned, his face twisting. Mitch grinned.

"Yeah. Like something to call ourselves," Kono pushed, "What do you think?"

"Why do we need a name?" Chin smiled indulgently at his little cousin.

"My army unit had a name," Mitch shrugged, "Makes it easier to differentiate yourself, work together. It's... team building, ya know?" Granted her army unit was a bunch of fresh out of boot camp newbies who thought war was like the movies and decided her sniper skills were comic-book worthy. Hence, "W2" for Wonder Woman. PJ was convinced she could rock a sword and shield.

"Yeah!" Kono grinned, smiling at Mitch and then the others. "Plus, we're gonna be working together and it would be cool."

"I got it," Chin said and proceeded to rattle off something Hawaiian sounding that Mitch fully did not understand: "A'ohe hana nui ka alu'ia." French, Spanish, English, Korean and some Russian, she was above most when it came to linguistics, but most Hawaiian words still escaped her. She figured she'd learn if she stayed, or maybe Steve would teach her. The back of her mind reminded her she wouldn't need Hawaiian in Virginia or New York.

"You're too much," Kono said, laughing.

"What?" Chin asked, hands turning upward in a vague gesture. "What are you laughing at? That means 'no task is too big when done together.'"

Then they all laughed.

"Touching, Chin," Mitch teased.

"This is the problem with you haoles," Chin shook his head in joking dismissal, "No team spirit. No island spirit."

"No, come on," Kono pressed. "We need something cool." She hesitated and proceeded to suggest, "Strike Force."

"Strike Force?" Chin repeated.

Mitch raised an eyebrow at the horrible name.

"Yes."

There was a heavy pause and then Danny sighed, a laugh breaking the silence, "I hate that so much." Mitch nodded, laughing along with him. She wondered what it was about this island, these people, that set her so at ease.

"Yeah, imma swipe left on 'Strike Force'," Mitch said.

"You know, I say we keep thinking," Steve suggested.

* * *

 _A/N: Done Episode 1! Let me know what you think! Follows and Favorites are appreciated beyond belief, but reviews make it worth while, so drop me a couple words and tell me what you liked and/or didn't like. Feedback helps me make it better!_

 _Also... last chapter we had a few more people join up by following/favoriting, so thanks for joining us!_

* * *

Bronwyn P: You're an angel, thanks so much for your time and your reviews!


	8. Stay

In between

* * *

It was beautiful, she couldn't deny that. Hawaii had a charm, a feel all its own. Something in the air itself was relaxing. The sun, the sky, mountains, wind and water seemed all too serene. Still, the air was fresh, weather warm, and Steve had her staying at his house rent-free.

He was a weird one. All business one second and sticking his nose all up in her personal life the next. She'd gotten used to it, to him. He was trustworthy. Loyal. Smart too. Something about the two of them had just fit, right from the beginning. He trusted her and she could honestly say she trusted him too. It was a feeling that was all too rare to her. She wasn't used to people having her back unconditionally. She wasn't used to people caring for her, or caring for them in return.

She knew he cared in his own strange way. Besides, her way of caring about him was just as strange. They just worked that way, and somehow, it fit.

He was up to something though.

She looked over her shoulder at him, "It's beautiful, I'll give you that." There was a small and teasing kind of smile on her face, but his lips didn't curl upwards into that half-smirk smile she was so used to pulling from him. "What is it?"

He nodded instead, leaning in the doorway to his patio. His father's house, actually- one he had inherited. It sat a ways off the road, hidden from view on a private beach on the main island. She didn't want to think about how much money this place was worth. She was lounging in a chair on the patio, watching the water in a pair of loose fabric shorts and a ripped-to shreds white tank top with Yankees written in blue across the front.

"Steven," she called his name, seeing the strange look on her face.

"When are you catching a ride to the mainland?" he asked bluntly. Usually she liked that about him. There was no beating around the bush or walking on eggshells with him. Everything was straight and to the point, just the way she liked it.

But not right now. She sighed and pushed herself up and off the chair, padding over to him in bare feet. The sight of her painted pink toenails lifted her spirits just a tiny bit. He was frowning stonily when she looked back up at him.

"I don't know," she told him honestly.

"You don't know," he repeated. He didn't believe her.

She ground her teeth, her eyes suddenly blazing. Steve didn't flinch, though the sudden ferocity blazing in her dark eyes and the hard set to her mouth would have had any other man shifting uncertainty. "I don't know," she repeated, taking a step towards him. "My vacation days run out in a week. Why?" she asked, suddenly feeling uncertain and defensive. She shook her head, banishing those thoughts. "You want me to leave?"

There was an icy cold bite in her words, but Steve had known her long enough to hear the insecurity behind them. "No," he said honestly, his eyes softening as he looked at her. His arms fell to his sides, no longer crossed over his chest. "No," he said sincerely, but firmly, "That's not it."

Her tongue peeked out to swipe across her bottom lip as she un-clenched her jaw. "Then what is it, Steve?" Her words were still harsh.

He shook his head. He'd be paying for that unintentional stab at her insecurities for a little while. The woman was hard as stone most days, but she'd let him close enough to do some real damage. He knew to tread carefully with her. He knew he didn't want to hurt her.

He wanted to protect her.

"Stay," he said.

She blinked, head cocking slightly to the side. Her long mess of tangled brown hair waving with the movement. Her mouth opened but she said nothing.

"Stay, here in Hawaii," he paused. "You said you were think about leaving the FBI the last time we talked," he recalled, "You're not going back to the army. What's waiting for you on the mainland?" he asked.

She just breathed, looking at him like he'd grown a second head and blinking owlishly. Then she spoke, her words soft and uncertain, "I- um."

"Huh?" he pressed. He looked down at his feet and swallowed before looking back up. Mitch was experienced. She was smart as all hell and resourceful. She was talented and she'd was invaluable in helping him hunt down his father's killer. She was a tether to his strength, to his job and his life. She had a way of pulling him out of the darkness and she was more than capable of doing this job. She'd be an asset to his team. "Stay. Stay here. You know, I'm putting together a team at the Governor's orders- full immunity and means." He ground his teeth when she didn't respond, just looked at him with those big eyes, sparkling in the starlight. "C'mon, Michelle." He smiled softly. "Help me out. Help me," he repeated.

She thought about the mainland, about New York and Virginia, about her team and about her few friends. It wasn't much but she supposed it was a kind of home. It didn't hold the same appeal as the island breeze and the way Steve was staring at her like her answer was the only thing in the world that mattered at the moment. Slowly, she nodded, her eyes lifting to stare resolutely up into his.

"Yeah?" he asked.

A small smile pulled her lips upward, and then she spoke. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll stay, McGarrett," she said. Amusement gleamed in her eyes as she neared him, standing only about a foot in front of him, she raised her hand and pointed at him. "I'll warn you thought, I've been told I'm not so good at following orders."

He smirked. "You'll follow my orders, Lieutenant," he teased.

"Up yours, Commander," she laughed at the look on his face. "I don't take orders from you." She poked him in the chest, then and looked up at him. "Well," she smirked, a devilish gleam in her eyes as she joked, "Unless we're naked."

He laughed then, really laughed. It was the first time he could really remember doing so since his father died.

* * *

 _A/N: Lemme know what you think guys! I'd really appreciate some feedback. I'm going on vacation in a couple days so I'll probably update tomorrow and then be MIA for two weeks... But then I'll be back!_


	9. Friends

In between

* * *

"Out with it Kalakaua," Mitch rolled her eyes, dropping the shot glass over onto the bar. Tequila was her chosen poison. "Why d'ya keep draggin' me out for drinks?" Drinking was fun, especially in Hawaii -she was definitely digging those bars on the beach- don't get her wrong, but three drink invitations in four days was a bit much from one person.

Kono smiled a little, looking down at her own shot and swirling the colorless liquid in its glass with one tanned hand. She looked at the other woman.

Mitch was a bit of an enigma. She seemed personable at first, approachable even. Stick around long enough and she was foul-mouthed and dark-humored with a fondness for teasing people and a fearsome temper Kono had seen even _Steve_ cower from. There was strange glint in her eyes most days, a sharp lethal one that said she was not to be underestimated.

Her file was full of long strips of blacked out information— classified. It boiled down to her birthplace -New York City-, her rank -Lieutenant-, and her last employer -the BAU inside the FBI-. She was a mystery. Kono didn't like unknowns, but Mitch was intimidating in the way shy kids thought the popular ones were, almost too bright, too talented, too much to be treated like a normal person. At least, she seemed that way at first.

Kono had never had trouble talking to people and she knew there was more to Mitch than that. She was as human as the next person- just as fallible as the next person. She realized that after their first night out. Mitch drank one few shots too many that first night and ended up three sheets to the wind with a large bright _drunk_ smile on her face. When Kono's own fingers couldn't summon enough dexterity to do it herself, the bartender called Chin. Then, Chin called Steve.

Mitch laughed loudly and fell against the Navy man with a beaming smile and glazed eyes. She didn't look the least bit cowed by his heavy glare. In fact, she winked, one arm thrown over his shoulders and told a slurred joke that had the straight-laced Commander cracking a smile.

Kono on the other hand could only shrug her own apology. "Sorry boss, guess we got a little- a little carried away," she slurred.

"First night was fun," Mitch granted her, "second time was unexpected… 'specially considering the hangover I had, but hey," she grinned shrugging, "why not?" She faced Kono. "What's goin' on, huh?"

"Maybe I'm just welcoming you to the island," Kono smiled winningly.

Michelle snorted. "Yeah, nice welcoming committee," she joked. Then her smile fell into a more serious facial expression. "But really," she said, "what's up?"

Kono paused. Then she met the other woman's eyes. Mitch waited.

"Who are you?" Kono asked. "Really."

Mitch smirked, a small laugh bubbling from her lips. "My blacked out file didn't give you much, did it?"

Kono didn't answer. Mitch found that to be a respectable position. She already knew the answer anyway. The only thing her file would have given Kono is her name and rank, position in the army— nothing juicy, nothing useful, nothing concrete.

"I'm an former BAU and Counterrorism agent with the FBI and an army vet with a lot of experience under my belt," she said as calmly as possible. "I can't tell you what, I can't tell you where, or with who," she continued. "Frankly, it's none of your business," he said sternly, "but we're teammates now, so I'll tell you this—" Kono didn't squirm when Mitch set her dark-eyed heavy stare on her and she had to suppress a smile— the hawaiian girl was made of strong stuff, stronger stuff than she probably even knew. "—I'm good at what I do, and I'll have your back as long as you've got mine."

Kono nodded and downed her shot. Then she smirked. "Another round?"

Mitch smirked back. "Why not?"

* * *

In the time that followed, days at work and nights spent out, the two grew closer than either of them expected. Kono was smart, strong, and open-minded, quick-witted and an extremely fast learner. Her optimism and bright personality complimented Mitch's own tendencies towards humor and sarcasm, offsetting her often insulting or scathing remarks. Instead of offensive, trying, or annoying, Kono found the other woman to be brilliant— witty, fast-thinking, and somewhat inspiring.

They sparred, went to the firing range. Kono tired not to be put out when the other woman soundly kicked her ass. "You're good," Mitch praised her, sweat running down the side of her face. "Really good, actually," she amended her statement.

"You're better," Kono said. She only sounded a little discouraged.

Mitch only laughed. "I've got a _little_ more experience, Kono." She paused. "You're a fast-learner, quick-to-adapt. You could pick this stuff up no-problem," she shrugged, brushing the long bands that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear.

"You think?" Kono smiled, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah," Mitch said.

Kono paused, squinting her eyes at the other woman. "Really? You'd teach me."

"Mhmm," Mitch sounded and picked up her water bottle. She looked at Kono with an appraising eye and then smiled widely. "We'll start tomorrow."

It was the start of a beautiful, _dangerous_ friendship that had every man in the H.P.D training facility looking at the pair of sweat-soaked, fast-breathing, bruised women with trepidation and something almost akin to fear.

* * *

 _A/N: Back from va-cay and feeling a bit sick, but I've got a chapter for you all! Hope you enjoy it! Leave me some feedback please! I'll respond to last chapter's reviews along with this chapter's next update. Thanks for your patience!_


	10. Ohana Part 1

Episode 2 "Ohana" (Family)

Part 1

* * *

Michelle walked down the stairs in the Kamekona t-shirt Steve'd bought the week before. She'd used it as sleep shirt. Surprisingly enough, she was up before Steve. Still, it was early, even for her, the clock reading an offensive 5:17 in the morning.

So she padded into the kitchen, her hair thrown up into what could maybe pass for a messy bun.

The smell lured Steve in- he'd always liked eggs and bacon. Mitch stood over the stove, bacon in one pan, sizzling to perfection and eggs in another. His lips quirked upward when he recognized the shirt. _At least she'd found a use for hers_ , he thought. Her hair was pulled up on the top of her head, a few strands hanging loose around her face and by her ear, next to her long neck. The head hole was gigantic, exposing skin almost to her shoulders on either side. She wasn't wearing a bra, her breasts pushing upward against the fabric. He shook his head, but instead, just caught his eye on the tanness of her legs, firm and muscular emerging from the hem. Her toes were bright pink and there was a thin gold anklet wrapped twice around her left ankle, sitting below a watercolor-style flying eagle tattoo.

She smiled lazily at him, "Good morning."

"Breakfast smells good."

Usually, he was a bit of a neat freak. He liked things in their place. He liked things clean and precise, they way they'd been in the navy. He'd known she was going to throw that out of whack. Michelle was a hurricane and quite frankly he was surprised they hadn't named a category 5 after her yet. Her apartment, at least when he'd seen it, had clothing and reading materials spread throughout anything from a gas receipt to her checkbook being used as a bookmark, shoes all over the floor, blankets strewn about, paperwork piled messily on her desk, dishes stack by the sink- technically clean but cluttered. But she understood what he liked and why he wanted it that way. He could tell she at least tried not to upset his rhythm.

 _If she kept making him breakfast like this_ , he thought as he bit into a piece of bacon, _she could be as messy as she wanted_.

* * *

Both had rather ridiculous work out regimens, having dedicated most of their lives to the service, and so after they'd cleaned up breakfast together, they'd each gone back upstairs to change. She'd be going on a run, down the roads Steve had shown her when she first arrived. He was going out for a long and rigorous swim.

She figured she might dive in for a quick dip after her run if he was still swimming about. SEALs were like that, they could spend days in the water. They'd done it before.

* * *

When she got out of the shower, dressing in a pair of light blue jeans and a dark muscle tee, she threw her hair up in a bun, tucked her chain necklace under her shirt, letting the rope one hang in front, and applied minimal make up and flew down the steps. Steve sat at a round table in the other room. His father's tool box next to him, his elbows on his knees as he listened to a recording.

"When he was 5 years old, I asked my son Steve what he wanted to be when he grew up," it said. She tilted her head and walked in quietly, drawing his attention.

She paused, wondering if he wanted her here. She gave him time to send her away. Instead, he gestured to the chair in front of him. She sat tenderly, softly, making no sound.

"'I wanna be a cop, Dad, like you,'" his father quoted him. "I told him to be anything but that. The life of a cop is is not easy," Steve's father recorded. "It's not that I'm not proud of the work that I did, but more than anything, I have, uh I have regrets," he said, "The toll that it took on my family, the way it hurt them. It's something I think about everyday." Steve's body language tightened, tensed. She knew he'd grown up feeling his father sent him away. They were distant and didn't talk much and now he was gone. It was a gap that had only festered since his teenage years. Now he was gone and there was no fixing it.

She slipped her hand into his, squeezing lightly. He returned the gesture, holding her hand with both of his, but never meeting her soft dark eyes.

"Now, I'm-" his voice paused. "I'm alone here. Losing my wife was almost unbearable. But giving up my kids, that just broke me." Steve gripped her hand tighter at the recording's next words. "I'm proud of them, but they'd never know it. I've missed so much of their lives and watching them grow up and all. I guess that's the way it has to be," the recording slowed, "Till I figure this out."

The recorder clicked when it ended. Followed by a sudden thud-like noise that had both of them whipping around to the source, bodies posed for a fight.

Mitch sighed audibly and shook her head as Danny strolled into the house wearing a striped button down and a tie, carrying a rolled over white paper bag in his left hand.

"What is it with you, walking into people's houses?" Steve asked.

"I knocked," he said, looking back at the door.

"I didn't hear you knock," Mitch and Steve said in unison, both cringing after they'd said it. Neither appreciated the syncopated talking, but they got over it quick enough, watching as Danny insisted he had indeed knocked.

"I did, I knocked, I saw you through the window and I thought you nodded," he looked at Steve. Mitch's back had been to the window.

"Didn't nod," Steve said.

"Oh, well," Danny shrugged. He didn't seem bothered, "Would you like me to leave?"

"Depends. What's in the bag?" Steve pointed.

"Those doughnut-looking things they sell around the block," Danny answered."

"Malasadas?" Steve almost smiled.

"Yeah, whatever they are," Danny agreed. "They're fried and they taste good. You want one?" He was right, they were delicious, and they were so _so_ goddamned bad for you. Mitch nearly cried— she'd been avoiding them all week.

"No. Not without bypass surgery," Steve stood.

"Mitch?" he offered.

She looked at the bag regretfully and said, "I wish."

Danny just shrugged, but Steve's mouth quirked upward slightly a little at the pouty look on her face. "And you can stay," he told Danny as the cop pulled a fried treat out of the bag. "Just don't eat near my stuff."

Danny took a bite and asked. "Can I have a napkin?"

Mitch snorted a laugh at the look Steve gave the Jersey cop. "Yeah."

"What was that look? They teach you how not to spill in the Army?" Danny said.

"I'm Army. He's Navy" she corrected at the same time that Steve said, sounding slightly perturbed, "It's the Navy, okay? The Navy," he emphasized ripping a towel off the roll as Danny took the seat next to her. "Mitch was in the Army," he said, wiping off the crumbs on the table and handing Danny the napkin. "And it's not the spill. It's the tie. No one in Hawaii wears a tie," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I like to look like a professional," Danny retorted.

"Professional what?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," Danny said, annoyance creeping onto his face. Michelle shook her head, there they went again. "This is my favorite tie," he held it in his hand. "Grace gave me this tie for Father's Day." Then, he gestured strangely and said, "Oh, and also, so you know, back in Jersey and every normal city in this country, this is what a detective looks like."

"Really?" Steve said, looking to Michelle. She only shrugged. He wasn't wrong. Even Mitch had dressed up slightly when working cases, thought she did often ignore the 'no jeans' policy and there was no fucking way she was wearing heels to chase down armed fugitives. That just wasn't practical. Hawaii's laid-back style suited her. She was getting used to not having to dress up.

"Yeah, really," Danny echoed.

"Shirt, tie, doughnut crumbs," Steve pressed. Danny looked down and wiped the crumbs from his shirt immediately. "You missed a spot," Steve pointed out before she could.

"You're never gonna fit in here looking like you're from the mainland." He paused and looked over Mitch, with her hair pulled up in a messy bun, and tank top and no-shoes as of yet. "See, she blends in," he said gesturing towards her.

Danny glanced briefly at her- sleeveless tee, the colorful tattoo wrapping around her left bicep, Army tat on the right, and a faded pair of worn out jeans and sputtered, "Maybe, I don't wanna fit in. I wanna look like I'm from the mainland, okay? I got 87 homicide cases under my belt looking like this."

"Not in a 110 degree weather, you don't," Steve said, holding his hands out. "I'm just saying."

"I'm not taking off the tie."

"Fine."

"So leave it alone," Danny said.

"Okay." Steve didn't look ready to let it go thought, and to be perfectly honest, she was with him. Locals were never going to confide in haoles. They had to blend in, at least a little bit.

"Okay? You wanna discuss my shoes?" Danny pressed, obviously not serious.

"Well, actually," Mitch interjected with a mischievous sort of teasing grin, "now that you mention it-"

"You too!" Danny exclaimed.

"-patent leather loafers?" she asked.

"Will you uh, do me a favor, please?" Danny asked them, an elbow on the table. "Just let it go."

So they did. Mitch closed the lid of the toolbox and closed the latches as Steve took his seat beside her. Not for the first time, Danny wondered what their deal was exactly. They seemed more than just friends, but he was certain they weren't _together_. They weren't dating. But, she _was_ staying in Hawaii, leaving the FBI, as Danny understood it to join Steve's team in Hawaii. (Danny couldn't understand it, but she seemed to like it here) There was something deep there.

"That your dad's stuff?" he asked. That was another thing. She had access to a strange amount of Steve's personal information and history. He wasn't one to let people close, but she was all up in his business. She seemed to know everything.

"Yeah."

"You getting anything from it?" Danny asked,

"More questions than answers," Steve admitted. "Talk to the Coast Guard?"

The hadn't found Hesse's body yesterday. She knew it was bothering him. It was bothering her too.

"Yeah," Danny said. "They didn't find Victor Hesse's body yet. That does not mean that they won't."

Steve sighed, dragging his hands down his face. "What if he's alive?"

"Then we kill him again," Mitch said without hesitation.

Danny went a different route. "You emptied a mag into the guy. He's fish food. Shepard knows this is the guy killed your father. He's got crews on it 24/7. They will find Hesse's body."

Steve phone rang, the annoying little beeping tone. "Remind me to change his ringtone," she said to Danny as Steve answered the phone.

"Yes, Governor."

* * *

 _A/N: I'm back from vacation y'all! Sorry I'm a little of schedule. I hope you liked the beginning of the second episode. I actually have it all written, I just need to edit a bit and proofread, so more is to come. I edited last chapter a bit, but nothing's changed much, just a few words here and there. I realized I uploaded the wrong version, so I fixed it._

 _We also had some new people join us... following/favoriting the story and/or me as an author, so thanks for reading! Leave a review and tell me what you think!_

* * *

Bronwyn: Yeah! I thought spar fighting and sharing a mutual affinity for ass-kicking could be something good for Kono and Mitch to bond over while the boys bickered. And no need to worry my friend, I am back with more writing!


	11. Ohana Part 2

Episode 2 "Ohana" (Family)

Part 2

* * *

"Kidnapping victim's name is Roland Lowry. His car was T-boned an hour ago. Gunshots were exchanged, passengers were killed. This all happened in broad daylight," Steve summed up in the car. Well, Danny's car, his shin silver camaro to be specific.

She had called shotgun, running up and ducking inside before Danny'd a chance to call bullshit. The jersey cop had thrown his hands up and complained, while the Navy SEAL's friend laughed loudly. She didn't seem the least bit surprised when Steve had shrugged and said, "I don't ride shotgun." They were in a hurry so Danny hadn't bothered fighting it, just complained loudly until Steve gave briefed them the info Chin had sent him.

"That seems like a pretty messy grab to yank an ordinary guy off the streets," Danny observed.

"This guy's not ordinary. Lowry's ex-NSA," Steve explained. "He used to have top-secret security clearance."

"Which means his abduction could be a serious national security threat," Mitch inferred logically, seriously, the usual shimmer of a smirk absent from her lips.

"Right," Danny nodded along. "What else did the governor say?"

"She said, 'Find him'," Steve said.

* * *

"Hey, got your message," Chin said, approaching the crime scene with Kono at his back just as Steve, Mitch, and Danny arrived.

"Good," Steve said as he and Mitch ducked under the caution tape, "Let's start processing."

"Governor's Task force," she told the cop in front of them, flashing her badge in one smooth practiced motion. It was a badge Steve had fought for. He wanted Mitch on his team, someone who not only understood him, but his mission as well. The Governor didn't want her, didn't want the army vet whose file was bare, whose missions were unknowable, all labeled with a sharp and clear 'classified'. She didn't want the FBI agent with a penchant for switching units. She said Mitch was a flight risk, a loose canon, an unknown variable she didn't want on her task force.

Steve called her talented. Steve called her trustworthy. The only sniper he'd ever known who could calculate the coriolis effect in her head, the only profiler he'd ever place his trust in was her. There was no replacing her. He talked of her experience, her knowledge and her skill, the talent, the contacts, the network she could bring to the taskforce.

Needless to say, Steve McGarrett got hs way.

"We'll take it from here," He added smoothly, finishing her sentiment as they waled by the man in blue. "Chin, Kono, stay on the SUV," he told his team. "Danny and I are on the van. You too, Mitch."

"Officer Lee," Chin greeted, but the man hardly batted an eyelash.

"North winds must be coming in early," Kono commented with slightly narrowed eyes. "I just got a chill."

"You know, I trained that guy and now he can't even look me in the eye," Chin said with a small shake of his head. His voice was somewhere between bitter and frustrated.

"Forget him, cuz," she encouraged her cousin, a bright sunny smile arising on her face. "My police academy graduation dinner's at Haleiwa Joe's, 7:30. Can you make it?"

"I'll try," Chin said crouching down and pulling some papers from the door of the wreck. He didn't look at her. "Car was a rental."

"C'mon," Kono smiled, tilting her head to the side. "You're gonna make it to my graduation, right?"

He sighed. "You know, I don't think that's such a good idea. Between our family and H.P.D-" he began.

"I don't care what they think," she said firmly, looking over at him, "You're the reason I became a cop."

"Well, a ceremony doesn't make a cop," he said, looking at her. "Doing the job makes a cop."

"I want you there," she affirmed strongly, seriously, her brown eyes firmly tained on his.

Still, he shook his head, a pained sort of look in his eyes spilling over the dull stinging bitterness that had festered since losing his badge. "No, you don't. They think I'm dirty, Kono. They're gonna paint you with the same brush. I'm doing this for you." There was a pause as he caught sight of a stop light just over a ways. "Stay on the car," he said. "I'm gonna pull the footage from that camera, see if it got anything."

* * *

Michelle whistled as she picked up a bullet, an impressed double tone that had her two partners shooting her a questioning glance. "Steve take a look at these," she said. Danny's eyes narrowed on the almost, dare he say it, _pleasantly_ surprised look on her face. He shook his head, telling himself he'd stop trying to figure out the bronze-skinned woman with a fondness for things that could kill.

"SS-190 armor-piercing rounds," he recognized as well. "These guys were definitely well-backed."

"Definitely not a local job," Danny said, climbing up to sit sideways in the seat.

"What do you got?" Mitch asked him casually.

"This van, reported stolen two days ago," Danny listed. "Two dead guys in the SUV, hired muscle from Bruddah's private security firm."

"That's interesting," Steve said. Mitch hummed in agreement, eyeing the shattered glass windshield. Her head cocked momentaly to the side, her dark wavy ponytail swinging with the movement as she hummed lowly. Both men watched as she crouched down and reached to prod at the crack with one gloved hand. She made a brief sound, something like surprise in her eyes. Dany only felt lost,and as Steve's eyes lit with recognition he wondered if it as always gong to be like this, if he was always going to be the last one in the know.

"Very interesting," she added, dragging one gloved fingertip over the shattered edge of the glass.

"Why is it interesting?" Danny asked dryly.

"This is density-layer ballistic glass, laminated onto a shield of resilient polycarbonate," Steve pointed out, as Mitch took the glove off her hand, standing.

"Why can't you just say bulletproof?" Danny asked Steve with a withering look. "I mean, how hard is that?"

"Get Chin to call the security company, find out where they were going," Steve said.

"Guys," Kono interrupted, a phone in hand as she brushed the hair from her face. "Roland's last call was at 6:15 a.m."

"Same time he was abducted. Who did he call?" Danny asked.

"His son, Evan."

"We got our witness."

* * *

"Evan, do you know where your dad was going this morning?" Mitch asked the kid back at headquarters. The brown haired boy sat in one of the netted swivel chairs as she leaned back against the computer table, her butt just resting on the top. Danny sat in another chair next to her, Steve standing just between them, arms crossed.

"No," he shook his head worriedly, "I mean, he probably told me, but I was only half-listening. It was some big meeting."

"Do you know what it was about?" she asked. Her voice sounded gentler than Danny had expected her to be capable of. He shook his head.

"Any idea who it was with?" Steve pressed.

"Look, we don't really talk about his work," the boy said.

Steve changed his approach, "Did your dad ever have any disagreements with anyone?" he prompted, "Is there anybody you can think that would wanna hurt your dad?"

"No," Evan shook his head earnestly, "I'm telling you, he's the most boring person you'll ever meet."

"What about your mom? Where is she?" Danny pipe up and asked.

"She died when I was 7."

"All right, buddy, look," Steve said honestly, "there were two other men with your dad this morning."

"They were bodyguards," Mitch told Evan candidly, but there was a firm sort of gentleness in her eyes that said she was someone he could trust. Evan wasn't sure why, but he did, he trusted her.

"You have any idea why he would hire bodyguards?" Steve asked.

"Seriously?" the boy looked honestly surprised, worried, even.

"Yeah, kid. We are," she said softly.

His eyes stuck on her as he sucked in a harsh breath. "Bodyguards?" the boy echoed shaking his head. "No, I had no clue. I can't believe it," he sighed, "That could've been the last time I ever talk to my dad." He paused, harsh realization settling on his shoulders, in his mind. "And I called him a dictator," he breathed, a soft kind of disbelief in his voice.

"Hey," Mitch leaned forward, "Look at me, kiddo." Evan's eyes narrowed on her slightly, resenting the word 'kiddo', but the honest firm look in her eyes the one that said she'd feed him no bullshit lines was back. "He knows you didn't mean it. He's your dad, he loves you no matter what."

"Evan," a blonde woman woman called rushing into hug the boy. "You all right? I'm so sorry. You okay? God, you must have been so scared," she reached out to him, holding his hand as they sat in opposite chairs. "I can't even imagine it. I'm gonna want you to come stay with me until they find him. Yeah?"

"Okay," he nodded, seeming comfortable with her.

She caught his eye and he seemed to know without words that she was asking if he'd be okay with this woman. He smiled barely and nodded as the woman patted down his hair and hugged him tightly. Satisfied the boy was okay, she turned to the others and followed them outside.

* * *

"Who's that?" Steve asked, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the woman.

"Name's Natalie Reed," Kono said. She had let the woman inside. "Roland's girlfriend."

"She have any guess who'd wanna grab her boyfriend?" he asked.

"No idea," Kono confirmed.

"All right, stay close," he told her. "If this is a kidnap and ransom, the abductors might make contact. Want someone who can run the trace."

"Okay," she nodded, moving to turn away when Danny piped up.

"Hey, listen," he said. "Give us a couple hours, we'll run down some leads. We will relieve you. I promise you, you won't miss your graduation."

"It's cool, bro," she smiled a little.

"Grabbed the footage from a traffic cam near the crime scene," Chin said holding his phone aloft as he approached them. "I'll see if there's anything that can identify the shooters."

"Did you get in touch with the company that Roland hired today?" Mitch asked him.

"Yeah, I spoke to the owner," he said. "Roland hired the bodyguards for an appointment he had this morning."

"Where were they going?" Steve asked.

"Hickam Air Force Base."

Danny nodded and looked between the two servicemen. "You know anyone at Hickam?" neither dignified that with a response, though Mitch did raise her eyebrows in a condescending manner just before she and Steve walked off.

"What a stupid question," Danny muttered, trailing after them. "Of course they do."

* * *

"Roland became paranoid," Nathanson said as they walked alongside him. He was an older man, but still strong. He was one of Michelle's contacts, strangely enough. Steve's man had turned out to be off-base at the moment, but Nathanson had been in Hawaii for about a year now. A plane took off to Steve's right, the engines whirring.

He told Michelle she should ring up her old Commander, but she only smiled tightly in response.

"Firing off memos in the middle of the night directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Nathanson continued. "Which pissed off his immediate superiors to no end," he added.

"What were the memos about?" Steve asked.

"He was constantly telling us how vulnerable we were to attack," Nathanson explained. "In fact, he moved to Hawaii not to retire, but to carry on with his work. He felt this is where he could do the most good."

"What do you mean by that?" Mitch probed.

"Hawaii's in a strategic position in the global theater," the air force official explained, pausing in his steps. "And the United States Pacific Command is directly responsible for a hundred and fifty million square miles. Literally half the Earth," he said and looked between the three task force members. "Why do you think Pearl Harbor was a target?"

"Is that why he wanted to see you, because we were still vulnerable?" Steve asked.

"He was working on something that could prove it," blank nodded.

"Okay, what was it?" Danny pressed.

"He didn't feel comfortable talking over the phone so he was bringing it over," the older man said.

"So Roland was about to expose some serious threat to the island," Mitch summarized.

"That's why I took the meeting."

"That's why he was kidnapped," Steve assessed.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everyone, we've got a few more people who have followed/favorited this story, so thanks for joining up! I would really appreciate it if, when you read this chapter, you'd leave a review! It's helpful for me to know you've read the story, but it's even better if I know what parts you enjoyed versus what you didn't enjoy. It helps me become a better writer and it helps you get a better story!_

 _So please, let me know what you think! Mitch is not a mary-sue, she's a talented, but flawed individual whose good at fighting, shooting, and reading people, but somewhere along her life journey forgot how to be herself, forgot how to have fun, how to have friends and put down roots. Steve, and a couple people who have yet to come into the story, are the only people she has to rely on, to talk to. Throughout this story, her circle of trust and friendship will grow- she and Danny will become closer, she and Kono will forge an iron-clad friendship. But she's not exactly personable, so she might make a few enemies as well._

 _If I get three reviews... I'll post another chapter early, it's already done!_


	12. Ohana Part 3

Episode 2 "Ohana" (Family)

Part 3

* * *

On the way back to the car, Chin called McGarrett and said there had been a wounded runner in the gunfight who had gotten away. The tape Chin had collected from the stop light showed he was hit in the grab and headed into The Kahiko on Kalia Road, a hotel that they were currently parked in front of.

Chin met them there,"Hotel security cameras show he went up the elevator on the right."

"He was shot. He knew he couldn't go to the hospital," Danny said. As they stalked inside, two and two, guns drawn and at the ready. She scanned the lobby as Steve approached the elevators.

"I got blood," he called. "He went up."

Steve didn't hesitate, walking into the elevator after a small family of three. Immediately, he looked at the elevator buttons, almost completely ignoring the suddenly terrified family behind him. "He's on 36," he announced, pressing the button with the tip of hig gun. Mitch was right there with him, their expressions flat and their guns cocked. Danny shook his head, watching the wide-eyed horror on the family's faces. Chin too, noticed the change.

Mitch smiled tightly at the terrified stare the mother directed at her. It was more like a grimace.

"Hey, Uh, we're cops," Steve said tightly. "Don't worry."

Danny sighed. "You like hippos?" he asked bending down to look at the little boy, holding his blue blow up hippo floatie close to his little body. He was squashed between his parents, but he nodded. "I like hippos too," Danny said. "I got a daughter, she loves hippos." He stood and looked at the parents. "Everybody likes hippos. He'll be okay."  
The elevator dinged as they stopped a floor below their destination floor. Hurriedly, muttering, "go go go" under his breath, the father ushered his family out of the elevator.

"You have an amazing way with children," Danny said flatly and sarcastically as the doors closed and they were again moving upwards.

Mitch ignored him.

"What?" Steve asked.

The elevator doors opened on the 36th floor and they stormed out in single file, guns pointed ahead of them.

"Here. Here!" Danny called, seeing blood on the maintenance door. He busted it open, Michelle right behind him. Each turned a separate way, guns aimed, but there was nothing there, no one. "Clear," they said.

Mitch took a step toward the staircase. There was blood on the railing. "He's on the roof," she said, surging forward and running up, Steve close at her heels, Danny and CHin behind them.

"Found him!" Steve called as they searched the roof.

"He dead?" Mitch asked as he crouched down to feel for a pulse at the man's neck.

"Not yet," he met her eyes.

"Hey. Hey. Have a nice nap, princess?" Danny asked, easing the hose off of the criminal.

"Who are you? Huh?" the bald tattooed man asked, his voice rough and deep.

"The man asked you a question," Chin said, leaning over the man threateningly.

"Where's Roland Lowry?" Steve asked harshly asked, "What do you want with him?"

Mitch's eyes narrowed on the criminal. There was something off about him. He had an edge about him, even shot and in pain. This guy was not petty criminal. He was big game.

"What do you want with him?" he asked, clearly unafraid of the cop.

"Hey, you know," Danny said, almost to himself. "I've been shot too." He looked at the man's shoulder wound. "Yeah, you really ought to get that looked at. What's it been, an hour or two since you got hit? What's gonna happen," he explained crouching down slightly, "is bacterial infection is gonna set in. Trust me, you do not want that. It goes straight to your bloodstream. Now you get sepsis, organ failure," he listed boredly. "Next thing you know, they're yanking out your kidneys. And from what I hear, dialysis is, um," he looked at the man. "It's not fun. Let me ask you a question. Your buddies worth that trouble? I mean, you guys couldn't have been that tight, right?"

"Steve," she muttered quietly, her voice just loud enough to hear. "What's that tattoo?" she asked.

She'd dealt with enough gang and criminal activity to notice a crime tat when she saw one. The almost blue colored snake along his neck and the matching star on his hand screamed 'criminal'. No one got hand tats without good reason- they hurt like a bitch and took forever to heal with a bigger risk of infection.

"They left you behind," Danny continued.

"Danno, move," Steve said suddenly. She guessed he'd recognized the tat. "Mitch, hold him down."

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, outraged as she and Steve descended on the man. She held him down firmly, keeping him from lashing out as Steve took the guy's hand and pressed his own finger painfully into the gunshot wound, blood pooling around the wound as the man screamed.

"What is the matter with you?" Danny yelled.

"Give me a piece of paper," Mitch said, letting the man go partially as he panted and groaned in pain, eyes squeezing closed.

When Chin handed her a blank piece, she grabbed the man's hand from Steve and pressed his bloody finger to the paper, then she handed it back to Chin. "Run that print, will you?"

"Let's go, princess," Steve said, hoisting the wounded man upward and towards the balcony.

"This is Kelly," Chin said, his phone to his ear. "I'm sending over a print."

"Careful, Steve," she muttered quietly, but didn't stop him, blocking Danny from the scene as Steve shoved the man backward, holding on to his legs. He screamed, eyes blown wide in fear as Steve hung him off the balcony.

"Hey, what are you doing? Hey!" Danny shouted, she pushed him back a step. "Are you out of your mind?"

"All right, you wanna play, huh?" Steve taunted the man. "Let's play."

"This is _not_ Guantanamo. You can't hang a guy off a roof!" Mitch idly wondered if that blood vessel in his neck would pop.

"All I'd have to say is you came in me with a gun, we struggled and you fell," Steve shouted, jostling the guy a little bit. "What do you think of that huh?"

"Hey, hey, listen to me," Danny said, trying to get around Mitch and gesturing wildly to the man hanging off the side of the building, tethered only by Steve's arms around his legs. "If a suspect dies, he no longer has the ability to speak. Ergo, he's useless to us!"

"Did you just say 'ergo'?" Mitch paused to ask with furrowed brows and a momentary look of confused while, behind her, Steve yelled at their man in custody.

"You think anybody's gonna care? You just killed two people, buddy. I'd be doing the world a favor."

"That's enough," Danny shouted.

"Ladies," Chin called, turning to them with a raise eyebrow. "You can stop now. I got a fingerprint match off an Interpol database."

"Ergo?" Steve paused to ask Danny, no longer shouting.

"You and I are gonna have a long talk later, you understand?" Danny pointed at Steve. "You too!" he shouted when Mitch rolled her eyes at him. "Get him up!"

Steve pulled the guy back over the ledge and flung him onto the ground. Mitch cringed at the noise he made and almost laughed at the look on his face as he curled in on himself and clutched at his shoulder.

"You're twisted, you know that?" Danny told her, looking at her apprehensively. She only hummed in response, an amused upturn to her lips as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Guy's name is Sergei Ivanovich," Chin said, showing the file on his phone screen. "Serbian national with a rap sheet a mile long. He's part of a gang who pulled mostly bank jobs, jewelry heists. Smash-and-grab type stuff."

"Thieves," Danny summed up. "Thieves take things, not humans."

Mitch shook her head, knowing something was wrong. She knew bad news when she saw it. Too many years with the military and then the FBI had taught her how to spot a bad guy when she saw one. There was no way this guy was only into petty thievery and smash-and-grabs.

"Maybe they graduated to kidnapping," Chin suggested.

"Or maybe they knew what Roland wanted to show the general," she suggested, looking over at Steve, "and they wanna get their hands on it."

He nodded, looking to agree with her assessment. "Either way, take this guy to the office. Throw him in a hole. Then I want you to run a deep background. Find out when Sergei got to the island, where he's been, all known associates, the whole shot," he told Chin.

"Got it," Chin nodded.

"Mitch-" Steve began.

"I'm not going back the office, asshat," she glared half-heartedly at the Commander. "Chin's more than capable of running a background check on his one," she said as she stalked away. "Let's move."

"Where- Where's she going? Where are you going?" Danny called as Steve walked after her.

"Roland's house," she answered shortly. "These guys are thieves, I wanna know what they were after."

"That way, you're going?" Danny pointed out, both soldiers having headed for the wrong door. Mitch tensed, her face flushing pink as she whipped around and stalked towards the correct door at an alarming pace. Embarrassment shone like a spotlight on her for one bright singular moment. Danny would have laughed if he didn't think she was liable to take his head off.

"Shut up," Steve said pointedly.

* * *

 _A/N: Wow! You guys reviewed quick! As promised, here is another chapter for your viewing pleasure._

* * *

Bronwyn: Hahaha, not you, fam :) You always review. It warms my heart. Anyways, no worries, I have this whole episode mostly done. I'm starting on the next tonight and just have to edit and such before updating next, so there will be no stopping anytime soon. And no vacations coming up either thought school is starting up again.

Anne-Sophie: Thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you like their interactions. You feel like she fits? I really wanted her to be a part of the team and not just some add-on or third-wheel. Let me know what you think!

kayceele02: Haha, they're just buckets of crazy when they're all together. Thanks for the review! hey make my day :) Let me know what you think of this chapter! The next one is almost ready.


	13. Ohana Part 4

Episode 2 "Ohana" (Family)

Part 4

* * *

She sighed, leaning back in the shotgun seat to watch Danny brood in the back. "Let it go," she said, "Just let it go."

"Please do not speak to me right now. Either of you," he said as Steve opened his mouth.

"Okay so we're gonna do that thing," Steve refrained from rolling his eyes. "Why do we have to-"

"Would you zip it for a second?" the blond spoke up, leaning forward as he gestured. "I'm gonna speak now. It is my turn," he said clearly. "Sergei Ivanovich. He is a suspect. That means we treat him as a source of information and then we book him, okay? Torturing and killing is not part of the job description!"

"I wasn't gonna kill him," Steve pointed out. Mitch smiled at the child-like defensiveness in his tone.

"Why are you talking?" Danny asked.

It was just like kindergarten.

"I'm trying to ex-"

"Why are your lips moving?" Danny's voice rose in volume.

Mitch smothered a laugh with her hand as Steve closed his mouth and with a single hand gesture, deferred to the blond. "Go ahead."

"I know the governor gave you a free pass, okay? But immunity and means does not entitle you to hang a guy off a roof!" Danny insisted. She disagreed. "All right? I was gonna break Ivanovich. I needed a little time to get into his head. That is how police work is done. Is that too theoretical for you two? Huh?" He looked at her. "Letting him hang people off roofs," he muttered, shaking his head.

She raised an eyebrow at him, suddenly unamused. She may have been with him, but Steve's actions were certainly not under her control.

"Can I speak?" Steve asked after a short moment.

"Please!"

"Okay. That guy was only gonna talk out of fear of death," Steve said, point blank. She nodded in agreement.

"Fear of death?" Danny echoed, his face contorting in disbelief.

"Fear of death," Mitch repeated testily. It was plain to see she was getting irritated by the other man questioning their judgement.

"What does that mean?" Danny asked loudly. "People will tell you anything under fear of death. That doesn't necessarily make it true."

She shook her head, muttering under her breath lowly so he couldn't hear.

"You see the tattoo on his hand?" Steve interrupted before Danny could demand to know what insult she'd just directed at him quietly.

"What?"

"The blue star," Mitch said. "On his hand? Different color and style than his other tats."

"It's a New Belgrade Serbian mafia tattoo," Steve explained. "These guys, they're not smash-and-grab types. They kill kids. They slaughter families. That boy," Steve referred to Evan, "is gonna lose his father."

"Is everything gonna become a personal mission for you?" Danny asked. "You hang a guy off a roof because you lost your father?" His voice wasn't accusing or acidic, wasn't meant to cause harm, but the question struck both front passengers in the exact wrong way.

"The fuck is your problem, Jersey?" she cursed. "You can' just ask him-" she began angrily turning around in her seat to stare down the blond man.

At the same time, Steve gripped the wheel a little tighter. "Danny, you know what?"

"No, no, no," he interrupted them, holding his hands outward. "I swear to God, I just wanna know. I wanna know because if everything is gonna become a personal mission to you, okay, I count my odds at job security, not to mention _survival_ , pretty slim." There was a pause where neither Steve nor Michelle spoke. "Okay?" he continued. "We are partners, all three of us. So if you are going to be shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later types, I would at least like to be consulted so I know when to duck."

"Okay," Steve said.

Mitch continued to glare at him, never opening her mouth.

"Mitch," Steve prompted.

"What?" she snapped.

He raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed, muttering a small muffled apology that had him almost smiling.

"Gonna cut Danno a break?" he asked her.

"What did I-" he almost interrupted, but stopped when he caught Steve's serious look in the rearview mirror.

She sighed, her eyes flicking to the backseat briefly before she said, "Yeah okay," and relaxed back into the passenger's side, head turning to stare out the window.

"Okay," Danny echoed.

"Just for the record," Steve added pointedly, "I wasn't gonna kill him."

Mitch smiled.

"Well, that is good," Danny said.

* * *

"Security cameras, double deadbolts, two separate entrances," Danny listed as they stepped out of the car and through the door guarded by two HPD officers. "Where's the automatic gun turrets?"

"Evan was right," Steve said lowly, head swiveling as he checked out the premises. "Roland does take his personal security seriously."

"Yeah, well, it's living proof," Danny said, unlocking the door. "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."

"All right, we're looking for files, notebooks, his computer," Steve said.

Mitch rolled her eyes, laughing lightly when Danny said, "Oh, thank you, Inspector Obvious. I'll check the back." Then the blond disappeared out a side door and into the neatly manicured backyard.

"Comin with," Mitch said, oving to follow him. She paused, looking between the outside door and then the shelving unit inside. Inside it didn't look like there was another room, but outside- Outside, the wall made it seem as if there were more space inside.

"Fall asleep with your eyes open again?" Steve teased.

"Funny," she commented, looking at the wall again.

"What is it?"

"I- the wall," she pointed to the white shelving unit built into the wall. "There should be another room there." Her voice was unsure. When neither man moved to agree, she added a tentative, "Right?"

Danny nodded along with her after a moment, seeing what she had. "Yeah, no, she's right. I mean, I'm no architect but, she's right. There should be another room there."

Steve had begun approaching the wall just as Danny began speaking. He ran his fingers along the edge of the shelves, bending them against the trim. His eyebrows raised as he was able to pull the shelf out.

"Oh shit," Michelle cursed as they walked into the dark room. Computers and hard drives lined the walls, monitors set out in rows in the middle of the room. The monitors were dark, a little orange light in the bottom left hand corners suggesting they were just sleeping.

"Wow. This is slightly above my level of expertise," Danny looked around the small dark room apprehensively. "What are you doing?" He asked, as she picked up a small black tablet. She brushed her finger against the screen. "No, no, don't touch it. Don't-" he raised his hand as if to stop her but she was too far out of reach and it was too late. The computer flared to life, woken up. Walls of code scrolled down the screens, different windows on different, the machines hummed, blipping slightly. "No, no. Good," Danny said, "You just put a blip in the matrix."

"We need to find someone who can make sense of this," Steve said.

"You're Naval Intelligence, Army-whatever," he waved his hand at her, "FBI," Danny's brow creased. "None of this looks familiar?"

"No," Michelle said simply, bending slightly to look at the block of code. "This isn't," she shook her head. "I can hack. I can bypass your typical security system and what not and I got some friends who can do the real thing. Know someone who hacked the Pentagon just cause she could, but this?" She shook her head. "I don't know, looks a little like that I guess. Steve?"

"I've seen super-grade level cryptography before, but this isn't it. This is-" his lips thinned. "This is something else. This is like off-the-grid hacker world."

"Hacker," Danny mused. "I think I know a guy who can help us."

"You know a guy?" Steve's eyes narrowed. Michelle laughed at the small exchange.

"I know a guy," Danny said. "I know people too."

"Okay," Steve conceded.

Danny thought about it. "You got any cash on you?"

* * *

"How'd you say you know this guy?" Steve asked as they got out of the camaro.

"His name is Adam Charles," Danny explained. "First case I worked when I got here six months ago, he got busted hacking into ATMs all around the island. Basically a good kid. He got caught up with knuckleheads, they were using him for his skillset."

"Right, and your heart just bled for him?" Steve said somewhat skeptically as Mitch grabbed the bag of candy they stopped for on the way. She still didn't understand what these were for but she was willing to give Dann the benefit of the doubt

"No. I just put a good word in with the judge," Danny said, "I mean, this kid had a scholarship to MIT, the whole nine. He's really a genius." He paused, shrugged, "At least for 42 minutes of the day."

"What about the rest of the time?" Mitch asked with a small laugh.

"Baked like a pot-a-to," Danny said.

"Pakalolo," Steve laughed, imitating smoking a joint. Mitch snorted, shaking her head at him.

"Yeah, he says it helps him see patterns and all codes are basically patterns," Danny said as they walked into the open area, covered by a makeshift roof. The kid sat facing a dimly lit computer with a pair of giant headphones on, his back to them.

"Oh, my," a slow smile spread across his scruffy face. "Dessert before dinner," the stoner said, taking his headphones off as Danny took the candy from Mitch's hands and plopped the bag of Dum Dum Lollipops in front of him. "Hey, Jersey. Aloha," He greeted, turning to face them.

"Toast," Danny said. She guessed that was his nickname?

"You're looking all kama'aina," the islander sort of grinned. She quirked an eyebrow, unsure what that meant. Danny looked unaffected by the use of a word he clearly didn't understand.

Steve did, however. He nodded. "It's the tie, right?"

"Really sells it," Toast agreed. Steve smiled a little lopsidedly.

"I don't know what that means," Danny admitted, but shook it off easily. "Uh, We need a favor, Toast. Grab your stuff. We're going for a ride."

* * *

Kono's phone rang. "Hey," Chin greeted her when she accepted the call and put it to her ear. "Found one of the men who grabbed Roland."

"He give you anything?"

"No, but we found out he's part of a gang of Serbian thieves. I'll e-mail you a picture. Listen," he said, "you think you can talk to Evan? Ask him if he knows this guy or anything about his dad's business- International contacts, overseas phone calls, anything that might tie Roland to the Serbs."

"Yeah, sure, I'll try," she nodded.

"How's the kid doing?"

"About as well as can be expected, considering."

"How about you?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, you're cutting it kind of close. You might miss your graduation."

"No worries," she said, but there was a tightness in her voice that said she knew already. "You become a cop by doing the work. Not walking across a stage, right? Good news is, you're off the hook," she pointed out. "You don't have to be there."

"Well, good luck with the kid."

"Thanks."

When she put the phone down Natalie approached her, looking worried. Her short blond hair, pulled back into a small ponytail, was falling loose around her face. "Any news?"

"Nothing concrete," she admitted.

"He won't eat. He won't talk," Natalie said, looking over at Evan. "I'm really worried about him."

Kono nodded thoughtfully and asked, "Do you have any paper?"

* * *

"Whoa, your kidnapped dude's got a sweet setup," Toast whistled as he sat behind a computer back at Roland's house

"Yo, take your time, Toast," Steve said sarcastically, clearly getting antsy. "I mean, it's just national security."

"I'll take my time and do it right. Can I smoke in here, guys?

"No," all three said at the same time.

"Harsh," he commented. Then his eyes widened. "No way. This is unreal. Like, unicorn style." Michelle's head quirked to the side as she stood next to the stoner. "I've heard rumors about this guy online," he said, "but I thought it was all just urban legend. He really did it."

"Did what? What did he do?" Steve asked impatiently.

Toast spun the chair back to look at the navy man, eyes drawing briefly over Mitch. "He built a skeleton key. It's basically a worm that can bypass asymmetric encryption on high-grade security networks." Danny's eyebrows raised and Steve's eyes widened. Toast had obviously lost the both of them. Michelle on the other hand, nodded. "And also allows remote access to infrastructure systems," Toast said, looking at her.

"Great," Danny said. "You wanna dumb it down for my friend here?" he pointed a thumb at Steve.

"Just look," Toast said, turning back to the computer, finger flying over the keys.

"Wait, wait, wait," Steve jumped up. "That's a rendering of the power grid of the entire island of Oahu. And the radar array for Honolulu International Airport."

"What did Roland do?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Toast admitted. "But you're talking about places with heavy-grade asymmetric encryption and your boy here hacked them."

"All with this computer, Roland did that?"

"No," Toast shook his head, "I mean, this is all just archives, logs of what he did," he trailed off. Then, he stood. "Skeleton key's definitely not on these drives. My guess is it was right in there," he said, pulling at a loose cable that probably connected to an external drive of some sort.

"Okay, At least we know what he wanted to show General Nathanson," Danny said.

"The skeleton key and what it could do," Mitch filled in the rest of his sentence.

"Okay, so hold on, if Roland can hack into the island infrastructure, any government network computer-" Danny began.

"Then whoever has him," Michelle continued.

Steve's eyes grew hard as he finished, "can do the same."

* * *

 _A/N: SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED! NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP TOMORROW! PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!_


	14. Ohana Part 5

Episode 2 "Ohana" (Family)

Part 5

* * *

"What are you making?" Evan asked her as Kono folded the piece of paper intricately.

"Crane," she answered. "In Japan, it's a symbol of peace, honor and loyalty. I once had to make a thousand for my cousin's wedding in Kyoto," she told him with a small smile.

"Whoa, a thousand?"

"Yeah," she smiled, shrugging a little as she moved closer to the boy. "It's kind of a thing. You ever been out of the country?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No. We never go anywhere. Hawaii's the farthest from Virginia we've ever been."

"Do you, um?" she began, pulling out a picture of the man Chin told the others had apprehended earlier that day. "Do you recognize this guy?"

"No," Evan's eyebrows furrowed, "Is he the man who took my dad?"

"We think he's one of them, yes," she told him honestly, "We got him. And we'll get the others, I promise you."

He nodded, his eyes settling on the crane. Then he looked up at her. "Do you think I could try to make one of those?"

"I'd love to teach you. Let me get a piece of paper."

* * *

"Sergei flew in from Serbia two months ago," Chin informed them, swiping right on the computer table at headquarters, Danny, Steve and Michelle gather around him.

"Alone?" Danny asked.

"No," Chin said. "He came in with a Drago Zankovic. He's the boss, as far as I can tell. He paid for the tickets. They both traveled on doctored passports."

"There were three guys on the cam," Danny pointed out.

"Let's go a little further back," Steve said, "Show me all Serbian passports in Hawaii in the last six months."

"Yeah, one sec."

* * *

"Hey, do you have another paper?" Kono asked Natalie.

"In the top drawer," the blonde woman gestured, handling a pot. "I just put some water on for tea. Do you want some?"

"Yeah, sure," Kono smiled. As she opened the drawer, she noticed writing on yellow notepad paper. Serbian, or at least something like it.

* * *

 _"Blow that one up," Mitch pointed quickly to a blonde woman._

 _"Nadia Lukovic," Chin said._

 _"A.k.a. Natalie," Danny said, meeting Mitch's worried eyes._

* * *

"Everything okay?" Natalie, turned, seeing Kono's hesitation.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Kono smiled.

Natalie's eyes flickered to the drawer. She brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Evan's okay?"

"Yeah, he's hanging in there"

The second Kono looked away, the woman opened a drawer and grabbed a knife, lunging quickly at the hawaiian native and grabbing at her throat. Kono managed to knock the woman away and into the china cabinet with a hard punch to the face. She slammed the woman's wrist against the wall, trying to get her to drop the knife. Natalie fought back, swinging the knife at Kono and kicked her in the abdomen before swinging a fist for the young woman's face.

Kono fell back and flipped over on the ground, popping back up onto her feet, just as the woman came charging at her. Kono kicked out, but the woman recovered quickly, grabbing for her throat and pulling at her hair. Kono pushed back, the both of them falling through a bamboo fence and into the swimming area where Kono attempted to choke out the other woman, but a kick set her off-balance, and other sent her falling into the pool The serbian woman, jumped after her, but Kono was the better swimmer and easily managed to twist the woman's arm behind her back and hold her underwater.

The fight, however, had left Evan unprotected. The Serbian mafia man, Drago stood at the edge of the pool, the boy held against him, a gun to his temple. "Hey," he said, grabbing Kono's attention. "Let her go. I said, let her go."

The woman grabbed onto her as Kono loosened up

"Come on. We're all going to take a ride together."

* * *

They forced her and Evan into the car, the woman's gun, and Drago's hand around the boy's neck ensuring that Kono had to do as they said. "Turn left ahead," Nadia told her.

"You shouldn't have involved the boy," she said to Drago.

"Well, you should have done a better job," he retorted. "You could have convinced him to sell it on the open market." She spoke in serbian. "More time?" he scoffed, "It's been months. He was about to hand it over to the U.S. Military."

"You've been watching my dad for months?" the boy cried, his eyes widening.

Kono's phone rang. Nadia picked it up. "It's my boss," she said. "If I don't answer, he'll know something's wrong."

There was a heavy silence. Then Drago said, "Tell him everything is fine or the boy won't see his next birthday."

"Steve," she greeted, Nadia holding the phone to her ear.

"Kono, am I on speaker?" he asked. He, Danny, Chin, and Michelle in a car of their own, speeding to her location, or, her last known location, at least.

"No," she said.

"Natalie's working with the Serbs," he said, though she already knew. "We're on the way. Where are you?"

"Yeah, everything's great," she said.

"Copy that," he said tightly. His eyes locking on Michelle's. She nodded, calling HPD to start a trace. "Stay on the line as long as you can. We're running a trace. Kono, can you tell us where you are?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I may even take Evan out to Mokuleia Beach for a swim."

"You're headed north," he deduced.

"Exactly," she smiled tightly.

"I know what you're doing," the woman ripped the phone away, turning off the call, tossing it out the window behind her. "Now, take a hard left."

* * *

"Dad!" Evan shouted as Drago nudged him inside an empty building.

"Evan!" Roland stood. He looked a bit worse for wear- his suit ripped and dirty, tie hanging loosely around his neck, blood dried on his temple and cheek. He was promptly knocked over the head with a gun by a man dressed in all black.

"No, Dad!" Drago held Evan back. As Nadia sat Kono down in a chair and began to bind her hands behind her back with duck tape.

"Oh, God. Natalie," Roland said. The woman didn't respond, only looking at him through the corner of her eye. "What you doing?"

"She's one of them," Evan shouted.

"No, no, no. No, that can't be."

"Shut up," Drago said loudly, throwing Evan down in a chair near Kono. "You see, your father has not been very cooperative, but now, with you here," he patted the boy's cheek roughly, grabbing at his hair, "maybe you can talk some sense into him, huh?" he forced the boy's head upwards to look at him. "Tell him to do what we ask."

"All right, all right, all right. You win. I'll do what you want," Roland gave in, seeing the paint look on his son's face as Drago drug him around by the scalp. "Just please don't hurt my son." He reached forward, only to be kicked directly in the face.

"Dad!" Evan surged forward, but Drago quickly grabbed hold of him.

"Leave him alone," Kono shouted.

"Shut up!" Nadia demanded.

"Sit down," Drago told the boy who nodded hesitantly.

"Come on," Drago followed Roland, nearly dragging him over to a small computer setup. "Now, get to work."

* * *

"No, no, no," Toast said, watching the system flare up as he dialed Danny's number.

"Yeah, Toast, what's up?" the cop answered.

"Jersey, Look, I don't wanna freak you out-" he said, a lollipop in his mouth muffling his words.

"Whoa, ho, ho. Take the lollipop out of your mouth. I can't understand a word," Danny said.

"I don't wanna freak you out, but it looks like the skeleton key went live," he said.

"Okay, what does that mean?"

"Someone's using it, dude. No, no, no," he said, watching as the airline radar went dead. "That's problematic."

"What is problematic?" Danny demanded.

"The radar just went down."

"Can we trace the hack?"

"No, I can't pinpoint the origin," Toast said, working feverishly. "Whatever it is just took down the Honolulu approach radar."

"Why do that?" Chin asked.

"So someone can fly in or out undetected," Michelle answered, eyes on Steve.

* * *

"Make sure the radar is down before they land. Got it?" Drago told Roland.

"What are they making him do?" Evan asked Kono quietly. "As soon as he's done, do you think they'll let us go?"

"Hey. I told you to be quiet," Drago said deeply, walking towards the boy.

"Hey, leave him alone," Kono interrupted. Drago made a sound, walking around her. "Leave him alone, scumbag," she said hotly.

He backhanded her out of the chair, her body falling almost face first onto the ground without her arms to catch her.

Nadia said something hostile in Serbian but Drago only shook his head, looking back at her. "No, not yet. She's a good hostage. My hostage. Get her back in the chair," he told the blonde. "Hey. Get back to work."

"You're dead. It's just a matter of time," Nadia seethed, lifting Kono back into her chair.

* * *

A jet engine flew overhead. "Did you catch that?" Steve said.

"It was loud as fuck, Steve, no way we didn't catch that," she grumbled as Danny said, "No markings, no number,"

"You were right," Chin said.

"Not one of ours," Steve said.

"Okay, so where the hell did it come from?" Danny asked.

"Better yet," Michelle said, "Where it going?"

"I think I know," Chin answered, "There's a skydiving school around."

"Skydiving?" Danny questioned.

"Right. There is," Steve nodded. "It's gotta land somewhere."

"Dillingham Airfield," Chin said.

"That's where they are."

* * *

The plane landed smoothly, touching down and the skidding across the ground, coming to a halt near the building. Three men in suits entered, two carrying bags.

"Where is it?" one asked.

"Let's see the money first," Drago said. They set the black bags down, unzipping them so he could see the bundles of bills inside.

"Looks like it's all here," he said. "You're gonna like this."

Vests on and huns out, the four task force agents approached the building in pairs of two. Steve taking the lead with Danny while Michell hung back with Chin and backed them up, keeping an eye out for any watchmen or stragglers.

"How are we taking the building?" Danny asked.

"What do you think?" Steve said.

"I think if we can get our eyes on our people, we go in hot," Danny proposed. "Is that what you'd do?"

"Yes, that is what I would do," Steve said. "See? This is a partnership."

"Holy crap," Mitch sighed under her breath and looked at Chin, "When did they get married?"

Chin almost laughed, a smile pulling at his lips as Steve continued. "It's like pulling teeth, you know that?" He shook his head and motioned forward. "Come on. Let's go."  
"Yeah."

* * *

"Here it is, as you requested," Drago said, showing the men the Skeleton Key.

"Dad?" Evan said. Roland had been removed from the computer and tossed into a set beside his son.

"Yeah?" he breathed.

"I'm sorry I called you a dictator," his voice wavered.

Roland's was soft, kind and reassuring, "It's okay. It's okay."

Through a small window in the top of the door, Kono saw Steve and knew the others were with him. He nodded sharply at her and she inclined her head, letting him know she was okay. She waited as they seemed to pack up their operations, scanning the room for Steve, Danny, Michelle, or Chin.

She saw Steve first, on the upper level, hidden in the back, tactical vest on and gun in hand. He held up four fingers and pointed to himself. Three. He gestured behind him with his thumb and in front with this index and middle. The four of them were here, two up top in the back, including Steve, and two out front.

He winked.

"Hey, both of you," she leaned towards Roland and his son. "Hey. Listen to me. Get ready to hit the ground."

"When?" Roland asked.

"You'll know when. Just do it," she said.

"You wanna take her out?" Drago said to Nadia, "Take her out. Make it count."

Just as she pointed her gun at Kono's head, Steve flipped a man over the second level and he fell to the ground with a sickening thud as the firing began. Danny popped out from the back, Chin and Michelle storming in on the lower level, taking them out at close range. Both seemed comfortable with it, but it wasn't Michelle's usual zone. She was at home with a sniper in her hand. This was a little more up close than she was really used to, but she was a quick learner, had done her fair share of hand to hand while overseas and easily adapted her skills to the situation.

In the chaos, Kono jumped up, knocking Nadia's gun to the side and tackling the larger woman to the ground, the two of them wrestling for the gun.

Steve grabbed hold of a chain pulley and let it take him to the ground as he spotted a fire growing in the corner. A stray bullet must have hit the fuel reserves. "Everybody out, now, now, now!" he yelled.

"C'mon kiddo," Michelle said, reaching an arm behind and scootching the kid along with her out the front door.

The blast propelled them all forward and onto the grass, the building erupting in a loud boom of orange fire and smoke. Evan fell to the ground in front of her, Michelle just barely keeping herself from falling on him as she shielded his body with her own.

"Evan. Hey, Evan. Evan. Oh, I got you. I got you." Roland crawled forward to his son, sputtering a thank you as she stood and nudged Evan into his father's grasp.

Steve and Danny had drawn their guns on Drago, forcing him to hold his hands aloft and drop the black duffle full of money.

"You had me worried for a second there, cuz," Chin told Kono.

"I had it all under control," she said.

Michelle laughed, wrapping an arm around the smaller woman's shoulders. "Yeah you did."

* * *

"Book him, Danno," Steve told Danny, the tiniest of smirk on his face.

"Really? I mean, is that gonna be a thing now?" Danny asked, one hand on Drago's cuffs as they spoke.

"You don't like it?" Steve asked.

"Don't like it."

"I think it's catchy," Steve said, tuning to walk away, his eyes on the way Michelle had an arm throw over Kono's shoulder, her other tilting the girl's head left and right looking at her bruises. Kono was smiling, one arm resting loosely around Mitch's back while Chin spoke.

"What are you looking at?" Danny asked Drago, nudging him forward. "Go. Go ahead. Walk. Right this way."

* * *

 _A/N: This chapter jumps around a lot. Let me know if it's confusing, I'll re-work it and re-update with the new version... or I'll just keep going._

 _On another note... I haven't gotten any reviews lately on these last couple chapters but I have gotten some new followers. To those people... Hey! Welcome! But to all of you, if you are reading this... please please leave a review. I feel like I'm scrambling a little without any input from anyone. Background on Mitch is coming at the end of this episode and in episode 3, then we get into what exactly it was she left in Virginia when she moved to Hawaii and Steve's relationship with Catherine._

 _So there's good things coming up! Let me know what you like, what you think is going to happen, predictions, suggestions, whatever you want!_


	15. Ohana Part 6

Episode 2 "Ohana" (Family)

Part 6

* * *

She couldn't remember the last time she'd put on her dress uniform, but this was a better occasion than most to pull it out of the closet. It was one of the first things she'd had shipped when she began moving her belongings to Hawaii. She was glad of that now, as she tucked the white collared buttons down into her long black skirt, adjusting the tie and pulling on her uniform jacket before doing her hair in the appropriate fashion, pulling on her hat and slipping into two sleek, taller than regulation, black heels and striding into the space to meet the others.

Chin and Danny wore their HPD uniforms, while Steve, like her, donned his dress uniform. He looked at her. She tipped her hat. "You clean up nice, sailor."

"Not bad yourself," he said as they assembled in a straight line, waiting for Kono to emerge from the changing area. She'd missed her graduation. It had been a formality. For all intents and purposes, she was a cop, a member of the governor's task force, but it had been important to her. "Those heels are out of code," he pointed out.

"You know what McGarrett-"

She hadn't a chance to finish, as that was when Kono emerged, her eyes widening as she took in their straight backed stances and pristine uniforms. She smiled softly.

Chin said something she didn't understand in the Hawaiian's language, Pidgin, smiling softly at her.

Steve stepped forward, handing her a light wooden box, "Go ahead."

"Kel Tec 9 mil," she recognized, "Very nice."

"Makes a good backup weapon," he said. "Keep it in your belt or your ankle strap. It doesn't need a separate holster."

"Thanks, boss," she smiled at him.

"I'm sorry you were put in danger today," he said. "And we care for each other like a family, so please know we'll always do everything we can to protect you." He was sweet like that.

Mitch stepped forward next, and held out a small while box, that Kono opened curiously pulling out a small medallion on a thin golden chain. "It's an Eye of Horus," she shrugged. "Old Egyptian thing, My Grandad was real into all that. He was Egyptian. It's his right eye, for the sun," she said, pulling a matching one out of the collar of her uniform. "This is the left, for the moon. They're supposed to ward off evil, bring wisdom and clarity…" she trailed off. "And, well, I don't know anyone who couldn't use more of that."

Kono smiled. Mitch was hard to get a read on, but since their first meeting the two women had been meeting out of work more and more as Kono showed the mainlander a locals secrets and Mitch opened up, telling the younger girl stories and anecdotes from her checkered past while they trained. They grew close, closer than Mitch had been to anyone in a long time.

Kono grabbed her hand and squeezed, "Thank you."

Danny stepped forward next, handing her a small silver chain of an engraved saint. "He's the patron saint-"

"-Of law enforcement," she finished, a smile on her face.

"Yeah"

"I've seen cops wear them."

He fidgeted a little. "Pretty sure with that roundhouse kick, you never gonna need it," he smiled, "But my sergeant gave me one when I graduated from the academy. I've always kept it on me. It's always kept me safe. That is, until I met those two," he gestured at Michelle and Steve. She pointed to herself and widened her eyes innocently as if to say, 'who me?'. Kono laughed as Danny stepped back and Chin forward.

"You really proved yourself out there today," he told his cousin. "You've earned this. And for the record, I wouldn't have missed your graduation for anything," he told her.

"Now, raise your right hand. I solemnly swear to faithfully support the Constitution and laws of the United States of America and the State of Hawaii."

"I solemnly swear to faithfully support the laws and Constitution…" she repeated, taking her oath.

* * *

 _A/N: Whoo! Sorry for the delay. Spring Semester is just beginning so there was a lot to do. Here's a chapter! Sorry its short. I'm going to try to post the next one tomorrow. Between episodes are one or two chapters dedicated especially to Mitch and her relationships within Five-0 and with people outside of it, which will give you insight into her backstory and character. :)_

 _Thanks for reading! Thanks for following! Thanks for favoriting!_

 _Leave a review and have a great day!_


	16. Phone Call

In-between

* * *

"Jabari," Mitch answered her office phone, eyes flicking over her paperwork as she spun her pen between her thumb and index finger.

"Michelle?" a familiar voice asked.

Mitch dropped her pen, sitting up. "Aharon?"

"So it is you," he said.

"Yeah," she said shortly, watching through the glass as Steve walked back into the office, sporting his usual khaki colored cargo pants and a dark blue t-shirt. Danny arrived not a minute after him. He was still wearing those ties. "How'd you get this number?"

"You weren't answering your cell." He didn't answer her question.

"You think maybe there was a reason for that."

There was a pause over the phone. Mitch sighed, she knew she was being mean she couldn't seem to help it when it came to her brother. He brought out the worst in her sometimes.

"I heard you moved to Hawaii," he said after a moment.

"Moving," she said, still in the middle of the process. "A friend of mine's shipping my things from Virginia."

"You're not coming back to pack or sign papers or-"

"Say goodbye?" she finished harshly, her eyes hardening despite the fact that he couldn't see her. Her brother was a literal ocean away. They didn't visit eachother even when they were on the same continent. She didn't see the importance. "No. I don't have that much stuff, Hotch gave me off 'till my resignation gets through, and the apartment, starting next week, is officially not mine."

"You're really doing this?" He sounded halfway between unsure and disapproving, leaning towards the latter. "Hawaii?" She wasn't a fan of his tone of voice.

"What's it matter to you?" she asked sharply, signing off on one of the past weeks mission reports she never filed.

"Michelle, you cannot move to an island in the middle of-"

"I can," she snapped, "In fact, I have. You don't get to play the 'protective big brother card', all right? I'm a big girl and I don't need you hovering over my shoulder."

"Michelle-"

"Don't," she snarled, hanging up the phone.

When she looked up again, Steve was hovering in the doorway, a concerned tilt to his face as he looked at her. She sighed and raked her fingers through her hair, brushing her long bangs out of her face. "Who was that?" he asked.

"My brother," she answered lowly.

"Your brother?" he questioned, walking in and taking a seat on the other side of her desk in the fabric chair. "I thought after you joined the army…" he trailed off. Last he knew her brother didn't speak to her.

She didn't look at him. "Yeah, he ignored me," she said. "'e said it was dumb and 'unladylike'. I told him to kiss my ass and he decided not so speak to me ever again," she brushed off. He shook his head at the passive aggressive way she brushed it off, voice casual, but facial expression drawn down into a chilly frown. "We talked a little when I got out of counter-terrorism," she said. A small smile quirked at her lips as she continued, turning her head to look at him, "He got married, had a little baby boy. Aharon Jabali IV. He's six now."

"Aunt Michelle, huh?"

"Aunt Mitch," she corrected him. "He's a cutie."

"But," Steve prompted, knowing there was more to this.

"I can't-," she shook her head. "I can't- Aharon, he thinks he can still… but I'm not a little kid. I haven't been in a real long time. He doesn't get to to be concerned," she ground out. There was a hurt behind the anger in her eyes that Steve didn't comment on. He took her hand over the table and held it.

"Michelle," he murmured her name, squeezing her fingers lightly. She held tight to his, squeezing back lightly.

"This is stupid."

"Tell me," he told her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, but smiled when he shook their conjoined hands and said, "I've got your back, Mitch, like always."

She took a breath. "I sound like a stupid kid," she lead off, "but," she swallowed, "He- I thought I could trust him." For a moment, her walls fell down. For a moment, he saw the hurt shining in her eyes. She was tough. She was smart and she was fast-thinking. She didn't let many people in. But she let him in and he damn well wasn't going to let her regret it. He held her hand tighter. "But he-," her voice cracked. She looked up. "When my dad died. Aharon was in college, U Penn," she said. "I didn't expect him to come save me," she shook her head. "But he didn't even come see me before they boxed me up and shipped me off to my mom's… and I hadn't seen her in years before that. She didn't- She didn't care about me! And her husband… I was an intruder on their life. I wasn't family." She got up out of her seat and walked around the small room, Steve jumping up after her.

"Michelle-"

She stopped and looked at him. "I played a lot of sports, got into a lot of trouble. He- He helped me, but when I figured out what I could do, what I- I wanted to do, he said it was stupid," she looked up at him. "He said I couldn't do it," that familiar bit of spite flared up in her eyes, the spite and anger that got her through a war. "He ignored me for years," her lip curled, "and now- now he just expects me to- to pick up the phone?" She shook her head angrily. "Call him? Act like it never happened?"

He reached out, gently gripping her wrist and pulling her a little closer.

"I'm not the forgive-and-forget type," she said seriously, looking up at him. "I don't give people a second chance to stab me in the back," she bowed her head slightly.

She blinked, hesitantly resting her head lightly on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. They were drinking buddies, 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours', 'got your back in a bar fight', fiercely loyal, 'good in a gunfight' kind of friends. This was a little more intimate than their conversations usually got without alcohol.

"You gave me a second chance," he told her.

She almost laughed, her fingers lightly curling around the fabric of his shirt as she held onto him. "You've never stabbed me in the back, McGarrett," she said quietly, her eyes darting away from his.

He smiled softly, looking down at her, one hand skirting down her back. "Never."

She laughed, holding tighter to him for just a moment before looking up. "You know you're my best friend right?" A self-conscious smile split her face, "Ya know, if I can say that without sounding like a twelve year old girl."

He smiled, leaning his head down to press a discreet kiss to the side of her head, into her hair. "You're my best friend, too, Mitch."

* * *

Kono groaned, "Are they dating or not?" she whisper-yelled to her cousin.

The sailor and the soldier fit well together. Almost too well. They looked picture perfect, all fit and muscle-y in their cargo pants, guns strapped to their thighs, talking without words, having each other's backs in everything they did.

"They have to be dating," she said. "Look at them!"

Chin laughed. "I don't think it's that simple, cuz."

They watched as the two broke apart. Mitch held tight to his hand though, and smiled as small as they'd ever seen, something soft in her gaze as Steve laughed and pulled her towards the door. Walking together until they were out of sight.

* * *

 ** _A/N: SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION! The Chapter I posted was actually the next in line for my Newsies Story called Fightin' Irish. This is the correct chapter._**

 _Let me know what you think :) And Welcome to any new readers!_


	17. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 1

Episode 3 "Malama Ka 'Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 1

* * *

Steve shot down every apartment she found. For various reasons —too small, wrong area, too far from headquarters, the landlord was sketchy— he ensured that each was unsuitable and the best place for her to stay was with him.

She continued moving her things to the island, one small haul at a time— mostly clothes and her small collection of valuables. She hadn't much that was especially important to her, nothing that Derek hadn't been able to pack and send for her. She'd moved around too much to really collect any amount of stuff, so she travelled light.

So, he gave her the guest room, told her to move in. "At least for now," he said. Hesitantly, she agreed with one condition- he help her find an apartment as soon as possible. She didn't want to intrude.

Actually, scratch that. _She was a snoop_. Steve's father had been a bit of a pack rat, he kept everything and he had the space to do it. Slowly, she was helping Steve go through it all, insisting he could not leave the house as is. It wasn't his father's house anymore, it was his house. He needed to make it _look_ like his.

She sat on the floor in a pair of dark denim shorts and large discolored white t-shirt with the american flag printed on the front, a pile of open boxes scattered around her. "What are you going to do with all of this?" she asked, looking into the kitchen where Steve was getting their coffee, dressed in a v-neck t-shirt and jeans. "Little more sugar there, Stevie."

He glared at the ridiculous nickname, but she only smiled. "I don't know, he must've kept it for some reason," he said, a mug in each hand. He set hers on the coffee table behind her and opened up another box, ripping the tape holding it closed.

"Yeah," she snorted, "Papa John was a _hoarder_."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Aw, cool," she smiled, standing, pulling out a large red football Jersey. "McGarrett" was printed in black letters on a white rectangle across the back shoulders along with a large five-zero. "I found your football stuff." A helmet, pads, cleats, and a couple of wrapped objects she was betting were Steve's little-kid trophies, the ones from highschool we're proudly displayed on a bookshelf in the foyer.

He smiled.

"This is huge," she said, holding it up to herself. "Jeeze, you're tall," she murmured, pulling it over her head to compare sizes. She looked at the jersey and then at him. "I bet this doesn't even fit you anymore," she sounded incredulous, "What are you, the _Hulk_?"

He laughed. She looked good in his jersey, he thought, though the bottom came down just little past her shorts. It was big on her, really big, but somehow she pulled off the look, her hair spilling down over her shoulders in a tangled mess of browns. "What do you think?" she grinned, one hand in her hair as she cocked a hip at him.

"You look like _Sports Illustrated_ ," he told her with a small smirk.

She scoffed, waving off his words. "Bullshit, I'm not half-naked."

Well, that was an image he wasn't going to be rid of for a while. He shook his head and finished opening the box in front of him. "You should wear it to the football game today."

"Yeah?" she grinned. "Gonna give me your class ring and say 'we're goin' steady', too?" she referenced the feel to an oldies classic tale of highschool sweethearts.

He shook his head. "I don't even _have_ a class ring."

She scoffed, "You're ruining my fantasy here, babe," the teasing nickname dropped without a second thought from her lips, causing both of them to freeze up, pausing in their tasks, before both pointedly ignored the slip up and chose to act like it never happened as she helped Steve organize the mess and he carried her delivered clothing upstairs to her room.

* * *

That's how she came to be sitting at Steve's old high school football field at Kukui High, up in the stands, on a bleacher beside him, in her denim shorts and Steve's high school jersey, drinking the world's most sugary lemonade ever made. The name across the back attracted more than a few eyes. Steve had broken and reset almost every school record in the Kukui High's history of football when he played quarterback.

"Aloha, football fans, and welcome to the grudge match!" the announcer said after an island introduction— a lot of group chanting and drums. It was different than the games she'd been to as a kid, a good kind of different. "The inter-island rivalry everyone's been waiting for, the Kukui Kings versus the Piikoi Scorpions."

Chin and Kono came as well. Kono in a pair of tiny jean shorts and a red tank top. Chin came wearing a jersey, his own. He smiled, laughing when he saw she was wearing Steve's. Grinning, they fistbumped. Mitch had tucked the front of the jersey behind her belt buckle, so it didn't drown her, showing off her long tanned legs as she stretched them forward over the small section of bleacher they were saving for Danny and his daughter.

"Ooh," they cringed as two players collided roughly, arms tangled and helmets clashing as they fell to the ground after the one in the white jersey knocked the other in the face with his gloved hand.

"What, no foul?" she asked, the ref not making a move.

"Oy, how did you miss that face mask call, ref?" Kono shouted, launching to her feet. Michelle laughed at the fury in her voice. "He only tried to gouge the kid's eyes out. You suck!" Kono shouted.

"Ah, glad she's on our team," Steve muttered, leaning against Mitch, closer to Chin.

The islander shook his head with a small smile. "No, she's just getting warmed up."

Michelle waved when she spotted Danny walking through the bleachers, one arm around a short brown haired girl with pigtails in a tennis uniform.

"Hey," he said, shuffling into the seats saved just in front of Steve and Michelle. "Sorry we're late."

Michelle pointedly looked at the large red foam finger on his hand. Chin laughed. "Nice hand, bro."

"Hey, Gracie. I'm Steve," he introduced himself, reaching behind Danny to shake the little girl's hand. "This is Mitch."

"Hey, girlie," Michelle grinned cutely.

"Hello," the little girl smiled sweetly, looking a little shy.

"It's great to meet you finally," Steve said and looked to Danny. "Your dad, he talks about you all the time."

"He talks about you a lot too," she said.

Michelle threw her head back and laughed at the momentarily surprised look on Steve's face. "Oh, Really?" he smiled. "Does he?"

"We, uh, commiserate," Danny insisted. "It's a father-daughter thing."

"Hi, I'm Kono," she introduced herself, sitting next to the little brown-haired girl who smiled and said 'hi' in return.

"I'm Uncle Chin."

"Are you a football player?" she asked.

"I used to be," he said. "I used to play quarterback for that red team," he pointed.

"He was a legend too," Steve added and winked at the little girl, "until I came along and shattered all his records." He closed a fist and she giggled softly, bumping her small knuckles against his.

"That's a really pretty tennis outfit," Kono said.

"Yeah, I had to pick her up today at a country club," Danny said, and then looked at his daughter. The little girl laughed when she saw the amused look Mitch had on her face as Danny reached to close his hands over his little girl's ears. "Ahem, Step-Stan," he referred to the man his ex-wife married, "decided that she should start taking tennis lessons."

"What's wrong with tennis, Danny?" Steve asked.

Danny, of course, had an answer prepared and ready. "It can be played on a table, which makes it an activity, not a sport," he asserted. "You throw the ball, I catch the ball," he unintentionally swayed the girl left and right a little, but she only smiled up at her dad, brown eyes bright. "That is a sport," Danny said. "It's my duty as a father to teach her the difference."

"Dad, I can still hear you," Grace said, with a small smile.

"Yeah but, you're not supposed to be listening to me, huh?" he bent down a little and leaned his forehead against hers as he spoke. She smiled. "You're supposed to be paying attention because it's football," he said. "It's a sport."

"You're an elitist, Danny," Michelle accused lightly. "Tennis is fun."

"Do you play?" Grace asked.

"I used to, a when I was little," she told the girl. Smiling, she leaned forward a little, "I wasn't very good." Grace laughed. "I switched to playing basketball, but I was better at softball. I wanted to play baseball with the boys, but they wouldn't let me."

Steve laughed next to her.

"Shut up," she nudged him. "I wanted to play for the Yankees. It's not my fault!" The team could just imagine the little hurricane that was a small Michelle, bat in hand, that mop of brown hair tied back in a ponytail and fished through the back of a Yankees cap as she terrorized the local kids.

"You play in high school?" Chin asked.

She swallowed, "Uh, yeah actually— softball, basketball and field hockey." She didn't mention she did it all so she wouldn't have to go back to her mother's house. "Everyday after school." Her voice was uncharacteristically hard, though her face was as casually set as always. Still, Danny and Chin both realized the question had hit a nerve. Steve didn't look surprised. "I liked softball best," she added after a moment.

She didn't elaborate. Thankfully, Grace took the pause that had the potential to turn into an awkward silence to say: "Danno took me to a Yankees game once."

"Yeah? He must be a pretty great, Dad." She winked at Danny. "The Yankees are the best," Mitch glowed, that hint of a distinct haughty New York attitude in her voice. It reminded Danny of home. "I was born in New York," she said, the accent returning in full force. It wasn't always prominent, but it lurked behind the edge of every words, clearly peeking through every now and again. He figured it'd faded slightly after so many years away from her home city.

Grace's eyes lit up as if reminded of something. She turned and whined a little at her father, "Danno, I'm hungry."

"How can you be hungry when we ate an hour ago?" he asked.

"We didn't eat nachos an hour ago," she pointed out.

"What was I thinking about?" Danny laughed, "Of course we didn't. Come on," he stood. "Let's go."

"Danny," Mitch interrupted. "Hey-"

"Get me some," Steve interrupted.

"Cool, I'll just eat yours," she decided. Chin laughed at the way Steve rolled his eyes, but let the rather eccentric little soldier rest against his shoulder she propped her feet back up on the bleachers in front of them.


	18. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 2

Episode 3 "Malama Ka 'Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 2

* * *

"This place great or what?" Danny asked as they walked around the stadium, towards the vendors. "Huh?" he asked her.

"Mm-hm," Grace sounded.

"It's a real ballpark here," Danny told her. "You said you remember Yankee Stadium?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded, thinking back to the brown-haired woman with the bright eyes and wicked grin. She decided she liked Mitch and Steve and the rest of her dad's new team.

"We got popcorn, we got corn dogs. They don't have that at country clubs, do they?" Danny said.

Grace thought, "Well, they have hot dogs, but they don't come on sticks."

"No stick?" Danny leaned over the counter to buy Grace and his partner's nachos. "That defeats the whole purpose," he murmured, his voice trailing off as he noticed two men by the side entrance. The man's shirt blew slightly in the breeze, revealing a gun tucked into his pants.

"Come here," he said, taking nachos and thrusting them into Grace's hands as he ushered her towards an older woman he saw, walking this way, holding her daughter's hand. "Come on." Grace looked up at him, worried, but she did as she was told.

"Excuse me," Danny interrupted the woman gently. "I'm a police officer."

"Yes?" she said, sounding vaguely startled.

"I need you to do me a favor. This is my daughter, Grace," he said, his hand resting heavily on her shoulder. "I need you to take her and your daughter into the bathroom till I get back, all right?"

"Okay," she nodded hurriedly, clutching her daughter's hand.

"Thank you," he told her, bending down to kneel on one knee as he spoke to Grace, "Hey. Listen to me, this lady is gonna watch you. Go with her, okay?" he had his hand on her arms.

"Daddy." Her big brown eyes were scared.

"Hey. I'm just gonna go make sure there's no bad guys, all right?" he smiled. "I'll be right back. Come here," he hugged her. She held tight to his neck until he detached from her, saying "I love you, go on."

She took the woman's other hand and followed her into the bathroom.

Danny set back outside, calling Steve's phone.

"Where are my nachos?" the Navy SEAL answered, obviously joking, absorbed in the football game.

"Hey. I'm right in front of you," he said over the phone. "I got two guys headed to the field. Strapped. I think something is about to go down." He saw Steve straighten up. The movement alerted Mitch. The woman sat up immediately, her back straight, eyes sharpening as she scanned over her surroundings.

"We got trouble," Steve said, hanging up the phone. "Kono, call H.P.D. for backup."

Danny caught out of the corner of his eye, the one man shove a patron aside as she reached for his belt.

"Gun! Gun!" he shouted, drawing his firearm as the man fired twice, the shots piercing another man's chest, falling to the ground, likely dead.

There was chaos, screaming as people lept from their seats, storming their doors, the football game pausing mid-play as shots fired. Steve and Michelle were down from their seats as quick as humanly possible, Chin at their back while Kono ushered people outside as quickly and safely as she could.

"Put it down!" she shouted at one man at the same time Steve ordered another to do the same.

"Black shirt, runner," Steve caught.

"I got him," Chin broke off to chase after the large man, leaving them to apprehend the others on their own.

Steve expertly tackled on man to ground as the same time that Michelle shot the other in the shoulder, incapacitating, and not killing him. She shoved him to the ground roughly as Steve told the other to put his hands behind his back.

"I got him. I got him. Go get Grace," Steve told Danny.

"We're good, go," she assured him when he looked at her.

* * *

"Grace!" Danny shouted, going back to the vendors where many people had come to escape the shooting. His eyes scanned the crowd for the woman and his daughter. "Grace!"

"Daddy. Daddy!" he heard her voice, turning to see her pushing through the crowd.

He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a weight lift off his chest as she jumped at him. "Oh, come here, baby. Come here," he said. He easily lifted her into his arms, holding her close as she hugged him. "You okay? Huh?" he asked, "You okay?"

She nodded, holding onto him.

* * *

Michelle was talking to H.P.D. as Kono examined the bodies of the two dead men set up under a medical tent and covered with a thin white tarp, surrounded by police as she spoke to the coroner. "There's no ID on this victim. See if any of the witnesses know him," Kono told the officer to her right, seeing Steve approach, walking alongside a football player on a gurney as he was wheeled to the other medical tent that was tending to the wounded.

"You're a hell of a quarterback, "What's your name?"

"Junior Satele," the teenager answered.

"Junior, all right, you got lucky today," Steve patted his shoulder lightly, eyes flicking upward to see Mitch nod at an H.P.D. officer and walk over to Kono, shaking her head at something she said. "It's just a scratch," he said.

"Hey Boss," Kono called. "over here.

"You're gonna be all right, kid,' he assured him, before leaving to see what Kono and Mitch needed.

"This is one of the shooters," Kono showed him as Mitch drew back the tarp laid over his body to reveal the gunshot wound and a dark tattoo on the inside of his arm. "You recognize the art?" Kono prodded.

"It's a 14K tattoo," he recognized, eyes narrowing. "This guy's a Triad enforcer."

Kono nodded. "The other vic is Samoan."

"Two different gangs," Mitch summed, leaving the two who had actually lived in Hawaii to determine what was going on.

"So, what are we looking at here, a gang war?" Kono asked, voicing Mitch's concerns. Guess she was wrong, thinking New York would be the last time she'd have to deal with such gang activity.

Steve looked concerned, something didn't click with him. "The Triads and Samoans have coexisted on this island for as long as I remember," he said. "They've never brought their wars into the public, especially in front of their families."

"You guys okay?" Chin asked as he caught up to them.

"Yeah, okay," Kono said. "You?

"Yeah," he nodded, "I lost my runner in the parking lot."

Mitch's eyes narrowed on him for a moment, unsure as to why she didn't believe him, but shook her head. She didn't know Kono felt the same way, her eyes flicking to her cousin as her expression hardened for a moment.

By the vehicles, Danny bent over in frustration, cutting angrily with his hands in the air, his phone pressed to his ear. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life," he said, and quoted the woman on the other side of the phone. "'Violence follows me'? I mean, how do you even come up with something like that?"

Mitch's jaw clenched as she heard him. Her parents had fought like that before they divorced. She'd seen the toll it took on her father, saw the way her mother had torn his heart from his chest and promptly shattered it. Mitch knew how vicious those fights could get, knew how wrong it could go. "No, what happened here has nothing to do with my job," he said, looking angrier by the second. "In fact, it was just the opposite, okay? She is safe because I am a cop. Huh?" he paused. Whatever she said had him shaking his head, raising a hand to smooth over the crease in his forehead.

Danny loved his daughter fiercely. Maybe the situation was just a bit too like hers had been, but she found a righteous kind of fury usually reserved for terrorists and her mother building up for Danny's ex-wife, especially when she heard the resigned frustration in his voice when he said: "You know what? I can't even do this right now. She'll be there in five minutes. An officer's bringing her home. Yeah, goodbye," he hung up.

"Can't wait to meet your ex," Steve said humorlessly.

"Yeah, and the two of you can plan my demise," Danny replied, sighing. "So, what do we got?"

"Six friendlies wounded, two hostiles dead," Steve summarized. "We think it was a gang shooting, Triads and Samoans."

"Well, If this is a gang war, the problem is there's only gonna be one winner."

"Yeah, and the loser is whoever gets in the way."

"All right," Danny said, holding his phone aloft as he approached Steve. "I got an ID on the target of our gang shooting. His name is Mana Sapolu," he said, "H.P.D. says he's a high-ranking lieutenant."

"If this is a gang war, Sapolu might be a retaliation hit," Steve said, seeing Mitch talking with Kono over a bunch of video equipment in the middle of the field. He began heading their direction as Danny spoke.

"Crime Reduction Unit says that Samoans are responsible for murders of at least seven Triads in the last six months," he said.

"That's why this was so public," Steve surmised. "The Triads are sending a message. They're not gonna sit back and get taken out one by one."

"Hey, guys," Kono said, leaning over a small video cam. "Got something. Been going through the cameras, trying to ID the shooters. This is what I saw."

"Wait, wait, wait, go back. Rewind that," Steve said, pointing to the screen where a red-jerseyed player, the quarterback, paused mid-shooting, and walked towards the shooter. "Check it out. That's Junior Satele, the quarterback."

"So everyone's running away from the gunshots, but this kid Junior's moving right towards it," Danny said.

"Thought you'd find that interesting," Kono said, anticipating their response. "So I asked around. Junior's uncle is Mana Sapolu, our dead Samoan."

"Yeah, so he's probably in the gang," Danny concluded.

"And knows who the shooters are," Steve finished.

"EMT's released him. Saw him headed to the locker room," Kono added.

"Go on," Mitch told Danny when he didn't immediately follow after Steve. He shot her a withering glare that had both women laughing.

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but I've been busy with school. Lots of things going down. I have the rest of this episode done. Just needs to be edited and uploaded, so lemme know what you think! There's more to come!_


	19. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 3

Episode 3 "Malama Ka 'Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 3

* * *

"You know, when I was a kid, this island seemed like the safest place," Steve shook his head as they walked through the locker room.

"Great thing about being a kid," Danny said. "Don't know any better."

Steve shook his head, there was an angry sort of sentimentality in his voice. "Could leave your door unlocked, no one would bother you," he said. "And if people had a beef, they'd settle it with their fists, not with guns."

Danny shook his head, "Back home, you win a fistfight, you go home and lock the doors twice. Somebody's coming back with a gun."

Steve shook his head, remembering the way Mitch had seemed so shocked by how laid back people were on the island. " _Where's the hustle?" she asked, spinning around, "the bustle and the screaming? Angry pedestrians, pissed off drivers, some asshole blowing smoke in your face?" He'd been concerned for a moment. "The homeless guy tryin' ta bum a cigarette." A man bumped into her and said a rushed, but sincere sorry. "Holy shit, that guy just apologized," she gasped, laughing and turning to Steve with a smile, "Ya know, I think I could get into this whole 'island spirit' thing."_ She was used to dangerous streets and aggressive people. She'd said gunfights and drug busts were a daily thing in her hometown. "Yeah," he said darkly.

"I think maybe Hawaii is just catching up to the times," Danny suggested.

"Maybe," Steve said as they neared the showers. "Hey, there's Junior." He paused, looking into the next room. Junior was getting dressed, pulling a shirt over his head as a man in a black shirt handed him a brown paper bag.

"What do you think is in the bag?"

"I don't know"

"I'll give you 3-to-1 it ain't his lunch," the Jersey cop bet.

"Hey, Junior," Steve greeted, his face flat and cold.

"How is it?" the boy asked, sitting on the bench.

"Let's take a look at your lunch," Danny said, grabbing the boys duffle.

"Hey, hey," the boy protested. "I didn't do nothing!"

"You didn't do anything yet," Danny corrected, eyes hard as he dug around and pulled out the brown bag.

"We know Mana Sapolu was your uncle," Steve said sternly, eyes flickering over to Danny ask he pulled a revolver out of the bag. "Look at that."

"What are you thinking?" Danny asked the boy harshly, his expression hard. "Huh? What are you thinking about?"

"It's all my fault, man," the kid burst. "I asked him to come watch me play today, and if I wouldn't have done it, he'd-"

Steve shook his head, cutting him off. "You were starting quarterback in the biggest game of the year," he said. "You think your uncle was gonna stay away?" The boy was silent so Steve continued. "You lost someone you love today, I get that. But putting another body in the morgue, you think that's gonna make you feel better?" his voice was hard as he said that, indicating just how stupid the idea was. "Junior, tell us where we can find the men who shot your uncle. I promise you," he said, "we'll take them off the street."

Junior looked at him. "International Marketplace," the quarterback sighed, "The guys that did this, they just started using the store Trini's to front their meth business."  
"All right," Steve nodded then looked seriously at Junior. "If I see you anywhere but a football field, I will arrest you. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Go home," Steve turned, allowing the boy to go by as Danny bristled.

"Excuse me?" the New Jersey cop exclaimed.

Junior paused, looking at Steve.

"Go."

"Hold on, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa-"

"Go," Steve repeated as the boy hustled out of the locker room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Danny yelled, then paused. "Okay, let me ask you a question. What the hell is the matter with you?" His voice grew louder as the sentence went on.

"He's just a kid."

"No, he's not just a kid," Danny said harshly. "He's a kid with a gun, okay?"

"What," Steve retorted, his body language defensive, "did you want me to book him," he paused, using the nickname that only he and Danny's daughter used, "Danno?"

"Think that's funny?" Danny shook his head, gesturing with the gun, tip down in his hand, "Let me break it down for you, okay?" he spoke slowly, but his voice was hard,

"Kids with guns," he paused, "kill innocent people… and cops."

"All right," Steve shrugged.

"Now that kid. Maybe he's gonna finish a math assignment," Danny gestured, "but more likely, he's looking for another gun so he can shoot someone. Why? Because you conveniently just decided to forget about the law!"

"He's angry," Steve reacted, getting in Danny's face slightly, "because somebody came along and killed a member of his family today and he feels like if he doesn't do something about it, nobody will." Danny wanted to say something, something cutting and right because this wasn't like Steve's dad. This was different. He didn't have a chance. Steve just clapped him on the shoulder and said, as if everything was suddenly better, "So let's prove him wrong. Come on, we got a job to do."

Danny sighed. This guy was going to be the death of him. "There's something wrong with you, you know that, right?"

* * *

Trini's store didn't work out so well. They went in; guy ran out the back at a full sprint. Mitch was the first after him, but a cart being pushed in front of her in the middle of the street stopped her dead in her tracks.

Thankfully, Steve dodged it, going around and after their runner, catching a woman shoved into him and muttering a distracted, "Sorry."

"Hey, man, watch out!" Someone shouted just before Mitch pushed him to the side.

She was just in time to Steve tackle the guy into another store's display box. She sighed at the damage, watching Steve grab the man's arms and cuff his hands behind his back. "So you like to kill people on football fields, huh? You're under arrest for the murder of Mana Sapolu."

* * *

Mitch was just coming back to the office, having grabbed a couple drinks and some snacks for the team from down the street when Chin burst in, a large man in a black collared button down in tow, the both of them shouting. She blinked, watching as they argued and Chin forcefully shoved the man down in a waiting chair. She saw Steve coming- unbuttoned overshirt drifting slightly behind him he was walking so quickly, clunky boots hardly making a sound. She decided to wait and set her large dark eyes on them as her lips closed around the straw of an absurdly sugary fruit punch.

"What's going on?" Steve asked. His eyes darted to her and the bright red liquid in her cup. "And what are you drinking?"

"Fruit punch," she chirped and held his smoothie out to him, placing it in his hand as he focused on Chin instead.

"This is Sid. He was at the football game today. He's part of the Samoan gang," he explained as Danny and Kono approached from different directions. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the man.

He looked up at her, his voice somewhere between disappointed and angry as he spoke to her. "Kono, don't tell me you're working with him."

"How do you know him?" she gestured using her drink.

"He's our cousin," the two answered at the same time, looking equally grave.

"I'm also a cop."

"You're a cop?" Steve asked once they'd moved him to the interrogation room.

"Undercover," the man, Sid, responded.

"Chin said you quit the H.P.D."

"That would have been the easy way out," the man said bitterly. "Before I took this assignment, I had the whole department coming down on me because I shared blood with this thief," he spat, looking harshly up at Chin.

For his part, Chin only uncrossed his arms and responded, "Watch your mouth."

That was when Mitch strolled in, "All right, so I just got off the phone with H.P.D. His story checks out. He's with the gang unit. They got him undercover with the Samoans."

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Sid insisted, "The police department said that I quit to set up my cover. I've been under with the Samoan gangs for 11 months. Trying to identify the major players and collect enough evidence to take them down on federal warrants."

"So, what can you tell us about this gang war?" Steve asked

"I ain't saying another word in front of this dirty cop," Sid glared at Chin.

It was visible when the man snapped. "You wanna believe I took money from drug raids," he walked forward, voice like a knife, "that's fine. But you're gonna tell us what you know."

"I'll tell these two," Sid inclined his head towards Steve and Michelle. "But I ain't talking to you."

Neither said a thing as Chin walked out the door of the interrogation room. Outside, the Hawaiian native kicked at the wall and sighed, though he righted himself as Kono approached. "You saw Sid at the football game, didn't you?" she said. It was phrased as a question, but she already knew the answer. "And you let him go."

"He wasn't involved in the shooting. He was trying to get away."

She looked at him, her heart breaking a little. "You gave him a pass because he's family," she said. "They didn't do that for you."

Inside, Mitch motioned for him to continued, placing on hand on her hip

"I've been working my way up," Sid explained. "They're starting to trust me. Spent the past six months as muscle for their call girl operations and finally getting some of their security work. From what I've been able to put together," he told them, "the Samoans instigated this beef with the Triads."  
"Why?"

"No idea," he shrugged. "But from what I hear, it's gonna get worse before it gets better."

Doesn't it always, Mitch thought, air escaping her nose in what was almost an amused snort. Steve didn't look like he liked that man's answer either and leaned forward. "We're in the business of making things better, so why don't you tell us where to start?"

"There's a repair shop over on Lagoon Samoans sometimes use for deliveries. Been a lot of activity over there lately," he suggested. "I'm not sure what, but I hear it has something to do with muscling the Triads out of one of their rackets. If you're looking for answers, I'd start there."

* * *

A/N: _Thanks for the encouragement and reviews everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Lemme know what you think!_

Bprice: _I'm glad you liked the chapter. Thank you so much for the review. At some point I do plan to have the BAU meet Five-O- it'll happen. Eventually. Theyre will be a little tension between Steve ad Derek at first just cause they're both a little aplha-male and overprotective, but they'll realize soon enough that their goals align and all they want to do is help people and protect their loved ones and bonding will ensue. :)_

Ann-Sophie: _Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked the twist!_


	20. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 4

Episode 3 "Malama Ka' Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 4

* * *

"So this is where Sid thinks the Samoans are doing business?" Danny asked, looking around briefly as they passed a bunch of parked cars and materials, all looked a little worse for wear but parts were salvageable.

"Yeah, but what kind of business?" Steve said.

Danny tilted his head briefly in acquiescence to the question. "I'd say chop shop. But I can't see anyone stealing and stripping these hoopties." Michelle smiled at the familiar lingo for rather beat up old cars. He noticed and winked jokingly at her as she batted Steve away from the lock where he was about to use leverage and simply break the latch.

"You don't have to break the whole thing, Destructo-boy," she admonished him, kneeling down as she whipped a lock pick kit out of her back pocket.

"You know, I was thinking about it," Danny said as Steve gave her some room. "I think you should send Chin home for a couple days."

She shook her head at the idea as the lock clicked and she unthreaded it from the latch, freeing the garage door. "Law enforcement is Chin's family business," Steve said, "So when he lost his badge, he lost his family. If he wants to wear a badge, he has to be able to deal with things like this," Steve pointed out. It was harsh, but it wasn't wrong.

"You weren't held when you were a baby, were you?" Danny asserted.

"It's called tough love, partner," Steve retorted as Mitch lifted the door.

"Ah," Danny sounded, though she doubted he agreed.

"Oh, and by the way, I was held. Okay? " Steve added, pushing it the last foot upward when it became apparent Mitch was just a hair too short to reach, a soft curse escaping her lips that had him raising his eyebrows at her. "I have photos if you want proof."

"Photoshop," Danny shrugged.

Mitch laughed, drawing Steve's attention away from the contents of the garage. "Sorry, you say something?"

"No," Danny answered, walking towards a large stack of pizza boxes. "I gotta give the Samoans props, they can sure pack away the pies, right? "

"That's a lot of pizza."

Danny opened one and made a face. "Or maybe not. Look at this. What do you see?" he tilted the box towards Steve and Michelle.

"I don't see anything," Steve said dryly

"Exactly. No cheese drips, no grease stains, just nothing," Danny said, "No crusts. Does that seem strange to you?"

"Not half as strange as it must to a man who lives on takeout," Steve muttered, looking around the room.

"What's that stuff you used on that, erm," she glanced at Danny not wanting to discuss a classified mission. "You know," she said, "that brings out the trace-"

"Iodine," he said before she could even finish the sentence. He'd always had a knack for science, chemistry in particular.

"What do they deliver in these boxes is what I'm saying," Danny talked over them.

"Emergency box behind you," she pointed.

"Okay, all right," Danny said loudly, "what's that look?"

"What look?"

"The look when you don't tell me what you're thinking," he said. "One of you does the thing, the other nods and the next thing I know, I'm getting shot at." Mitch wondered how accurate that was. She was used to working in two- that's how snipers worked, teams of two with a shooter and a spotter. Still, that had been a while ago. She was picked up by the FBI and hopped across divisions and units as the boss saw fit.

"I'm looking for iodine."

"Iodine?" Danny repeated as Steve rummaged through the emergency kit on the wall.

"Iodine," he held up a bottle.

"Look at that, mystery solved," Danny held up his hands as Mitch unscrewed the cap of a spray bottle and poured the contents down the sink.

"Grab one of those boxes, put it on this table here," Steve said unscrewing a water bottle and setting it in front of her to put in the spray bottle.

"Right here?" Danny said, clearly unsure of what was going on.

"Yeah."

"Okay, enough already," Danny held up his hands, "What are we doing here?"

Mitch handed Steve the spray bottle and he carefully poured the iodine in before screwing the cap back on and giving it a few experimental sprays. "When iodine mixes with metal, it forms binary salts," he said.

"Binary salts?" Danny repeated. "All right. Is there a reason for this chemistry lesson?"

"Pay attention. You might learn something," Steve said, spraying the pizza box lightly. Mitch rolled her eyes at the teacher-like tone, letting him continue. "Any metallic objects left in those boxes will have left trace elements behind," he explained. "The iodine will bring it out in a couple seconds."

The image of a gun appeared clearly in red. "Wow. Thick crust, extra bullets, please," Danny clapped his hands together.

"Yeah."

"Come on, I could use a good slice," Danny said with a gin, closing the pizza box and ushering them ahead, "Let's go."

* * *

"You know what?" Steve looked over the menu of the pizza place while Danny drove. Mitch cocked her head to the side, leaning forward and reading over his shoulder. "This place actually sounds all right."

"No offense," she raised her eyebrows, "but I seriously doubt Hawaii's ability to produce a quality cheesesteak."

Steve rolled his eyes and flipped the menu to the front, slouching comfortably in the passenger's seat. "It says here they fly in the water."

"That's great, yeah," Danny said, "This town could use a good slice. It's a shame we gotta put them out of business."

"You two should try Ailani's in Waikiki," Steve suggested. "They're the best ham and pineapple on the island."

"Oh. Oh," Danny said loudly, eyebrows creasing.

"What?" Steve said.

"Let me explain something to you, okay?" Danny said, holding up a hand seriously. "Pizza is mozz, sauce and dough," he counted off on his fingers and glanced over at Steve.

"That is it, all right?"

Mitch scoffed, "Says Jersey. You wouldn't know real pizza if it slapped you in the face," there was a teasing glint behind her eyes that said she was saying this entirely to bother him.

"Ar- are you messing with me?"

"It's New York style for a reason is all I'm saying," she teased.

"I- I'll get to how wrong you are in a minute," he pointed at her. Danny swore he saw Steve smile at the loud laugh she let loose, leaning against the passenger's seat.

"Toppings," he got back on track, motioning with one hand wildly. "If you wanna put pepperoni on your slice, fine. But ham? Out. Fruit? Out, okay? I don't care where we are," Danny said. "Pizza and pineapple do not belong in the same airspace."

Steve looked at him blankly. "I guess you feel quite strongly about this." Danny's phone interrupted playing some doom and gloom ringtone Mitch didn't recognize. "That's cute," Steve commented. "Did your ex get a new ringtone?"

"No, it's her miserable attorney," Danny muttered, picking up the phone and putting it to hs ear. "Yes, Lord Vader," he answered. "Is that a joke?"

Michelle's expression grew worried, lips pressing into a line and her eyes widened as her eyebrows pushed together and her back straightened.

"Yeah, over my dead body," Danny all but snarled into the phone. "Let me explain to you why. She is my daughter too, okay?"

Michelle swallowed, her expression turning angry. Steve wondered mildly at how fast she'd attached herself to Danny and his daughter, how affected she was by the situation. There were obvious similarities between her childhood situation and that of Danny's daughter, she might have been beginning to see it too.

"Hey, hey, listen to me, you scum-bag," Danny said slowly. "You low-life, miserable, money- _sucking_ ," he paused, looking briefly at the phone. "Hello? Hello?" he grunted, making a strange half-yell as he slammed his phone into the console.

"Okay, what happened?" Steve reached out.

He sighed. "Rachel is trying to take me back to court over visitation because she says that it is not safe for Grace to be around me." Michelle's eyes twitched. "Like the football shooting was my fault."

"That bitch," Mitch snapped at the same time Steve said, "Oh, man. I'm sorry," prompting both to look at her with surprised expressions. Her jaw was tight, back straight and eyes bright with anger. She looked between both of them and then sat back in her seat, casting her eyes out the window, clearly done with the conversation.

Danny looked at Steve for an explanation, figuring that was about more than just his and his daughter, though he supposed he appreciated the sentiment in a strange kind of way. Steve's eyes narrowed on her as he twisted in his seat, face set sternly, though he never said anything. She promptly looked out the window, away from him. Danny got the feeling that, whatever was eating at her, wasn't something she liked to talk about.

Not for the first time, he wondered how close those two were, exactly who they were to one another. Mitch was loud and affectionate for the most part, bumping into him playfully, reaching to try and rest an elbow on his shoulder, using him as a back or footrest. He occasionally laid a hand on her waist or her back, but nothing ever went further.

She stayed at his house.

There was an obvious bond between the two. They trusted and cared for one another. Somehow, looking at the way her eyes flickered away from the window and briefly over to Steve the moment he turned back forward, Danny thought even they weren't sure.

* * *

"Hey, you the owner?" Danny asked, striding in the small pizza parlor ahead of Michelle and Steve, who held the door open.

"Pie or slice, officers?" the man at the counter asked, an obvious New Jersey accent clinging to his words as he looked briefly away from the boxing match on the television a few feet from his face. His eyes lingered on Mitch, in her dark blue jean shorts and white tank top —only ever stripping off Steve's jersey after the football game— trailing from her high ponytail, bangs loose around her face, and down her torso until he noticed the badge hooked onto her pants at her hip.

When he looked back up, all three of them had an identical expression on his face that almost made him back up a step.

"We wanna ask you a few questions," Steve swung a hand up to gesture at the television, stepping forward, subconsciously blocking Mitch from the older man's view. "You mind turning that off?"

"Hey, I got money on this fight," his face pinched.

"Okay, I got it," Danny said, a fake smile plastered on his face as he picked up the remote and clicked the "off" button.

"You have no idea where you are, do you?" the man said. His hair was black, shaved close to his head, matching the beard stretching across his face and up under his nose.

"Heh, well, we know we're not in New York, huh?" Danny said, picking up a slice of pizza with a thin napkin and tossing it back on the tray. "From your accent, I'd say, uh, Jersey," Danny assessed, "West Orange?"

"Bingo," the man said, leaning back in his seat, "You too?"

"Yep."

"Hmph," he said, "You're a long way from home."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Danny muttered. Mitch poked him in the back, laying a teasing smile on him. Either she was feeling better or she was trying to make up for the scene in the car. He raised an eyebrow, smiling a little.

"You've been making deliveries to Komomai Auto Shop?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I make a lot of deliveries to a lot of places."

"I bet you do. This one was a special order," Danny tossed the pizza box from the auto chop at the man.

He hesitated, looking at the box and then back up at the three officers. "Look, I just deliver the pizzas, man, you know?" he said. There was a gleam in his eyes that said he wasn't afraid of the cops. He thought he'd get out of this just fine. Well, Mitch thought, that just wouldn't do. "What people choose to put in the boxes afterwards, that's up to them. Now if you gentlemen have any more questions, speak to my lawyer."

Danny laughed, holding his hands out to his sides. "Hey, I tried."

Turning to his partner, Steve said, "I thought you were very reasonable."

"Your turn," Mitch said, a smirk on her face as she gestured for Steve to talk the lead.

"Okay," he said, turning fast and grabbing him by the hem of his shirt, dragging him up and over the counter.

 _This was going to be fun_ , she thought.


	21. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 5

Episode 3 "Malama Ka 'Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 5

* * *

She'd never been on a boat until Hawaii. Not the small, riding waves, pontoon, fishing boat sort anyway— the kind meant for entertainment. Steve, of course, had taken her out the day after her things had been shipped to Hawaii. He said she couldn't live in Hawaii without knowing how to drive a boat, so he showed her.

She loved the air, the cool ocean air in her face as the boat sped across the surface of the water.

"You guys have been watching too many gangster movies," the pizza shop owner, Joey, said, sitting in a chair along the front of the boat. It was a tourist boat, one used to go 'swimming with sharks'. Steve had teased her with the notion the weekend after they caught Hesse. She thought having him show her around the island would calm him down. Blanked faced, he pointed at the sign and told her it was the first stop of her vacation tour.

"How do you figure?" Steve asked, not bothering to look at the guy.

Mitch opened her eyes, leaning her head back to look around Steve and towards the shorter man. "This whole death march routine?" the man spread his arms out, "Like I'm supposed to believe a couple of cops are gonna cap me and put me in the ocean?"

"Please," Danny scoffed. She couldn't help but smile at him, lounging on the bench side like that, legs up on the seat, propped up on his elbow. He looked like a GQ model or something.

Steve smiled, but it wasn't the small ones he gave her. It was a different kind of smile, one she herself knew quite well. They were both a little crazy. "We're not gonna shoot you, Joey," he said.

"Ooh, that's a load off," he laughed.

"Hey, Joey, you got an 'aumakua?" Steve asked.

"What did you call me?"

"An 'aumakua," Steve repeated.

"No, what's that?" he asked, "Uh, what is that?" He saw the little shark fins popping up above the water all around the boat. Mitch smiled.

"Well, some Hawaiians believe that the spirits of their ancestors appear in other living forms," Steve explained. "For instance, like a shark, right? And that those animals, those specific animals," he said, "will be there to protect them in times of need."

"Looks like you can use one of those 'aumakua's right about now, Joey," Danny pointed out, just getting up as Steve descended on the smaller man, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him over to the cage submerged in the water surrounded by the small sharks swimming around it, slamming up against the bars.

"Hey, what the hell, man?" he shouted, "Are those dolphins? Huh?" He looked around wildly. "Tell me they're dolphins. Are those sharks?"

Steve grabbed hi belt loop and tossed the man over into the water.

"Hey! Hey! Get me out of here!"

"You let us know when you're ready to talk," Mitch flicked her sunglasses down over her eyes in one smooth movement and turned just as Steve took the wheel, speeding the boat away as Joey screamed in the background.

Danny cleared his throat when Steve stopped the boat and moved from behind the wheel. "Let me ask you a question. Are you literally insane?"

"Relax, Jersey-boy, it's a cage for tourists," she laughed.

"How do you know that?"

She nodded her head at Steve a mildly amused expression on her face. Steve actually smiled, looking smug. Danny's eyes widened.

"They're harmless Galapagos sharks," Steve explained, "They're not man-eaters." that crazy quirk to his lips appearing again. "Joey doesn't know that, though. Hey, you want a beer?" he asked, opening the blue cooler.

Both nodded, cracking open the bottles with ease.

"To, uh," Danny looked up at them as they sat in a vague sort of circle, "to Joey," he grinned. Laughing lightly they all took a drink.

"Hey, what are you gonna do about your ex, man?" Steve asked.

Danny sighed taking another pull of his beer. "I have no idea. Gracie's my life," he said. "If I lose her, I got no reason to be here. I'd be alone on this island."

Mitch's jaw clenched again. Danny watched her down another few gulps of the beer, swirling the rest around in a small circle.

"Well, you still got Joey," Steve pointed his bottle sightly towards the screaming man in the distance.

"Yeah," Danny laughed, "We should go get him."

"All right, get me out of here," Joey sputtered, treading water in the center of the cage.  
"Okay, all right. Why run guns for the Samoans?" Danny asked as the three leaned over the edge looking down at him.

"I got a business with them."

"I know you got business with them," Danny rolled his eyes, "What kind of business?"

"The Samoans are helping to squeeze the Triads out of their gambling operations," he said, looking down worriedly as a shark banged against the side of the tourist cage. "We got the guns and money, the Samoans got the muscle and the local what's what. And that's all I know," he sputtered, looking up at them, "I swear. Please."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Danny interrupted, "Who's we? Who are you working for?"

"Salvo."

"Frank Salvo?" Mitch eyes widened. Briefly, Danny wondered why she was familiar with a Jersey mob boss.

"Yeah, yeah," Joey nodded frantically, "He's coming to town tomorrow."

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Because the guy he brokered the deal with got clipped. You know," Joey explained, "that guy who got shot at the football game. Salvo wants to see the operation and sit down with the new boss of the Samoan gang. To make sure everything is all right."

"Joey, hold up a second," Steve waved down at the gun runner. "Who's Salvo?" he asked the two mainlander cops.

"Frank Salvo is the head of the Salvo crime family back in Jersey," Danny explained.

"If he's the one pulling the strings," Mitch added, looking serious, "the real war hasn't even started."

"Frank Salvo," Kono pulled the man's face up on the computer table, swiping to send the image up to a monitor hung on the wall, "suspected of a half-dozen kills. Three years ago, he put a bullet in his uncle to take over the family."

"His crews do it all, okay?" Danny said, "They got prostitution, loan sharking, protection, drugs, you name it."

"He's got branches out of state too," Mitch added half-sitting half-leaning against the table beside Danny, "New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, business booms for this guy."

He nodded. "Only racket they don't have is illegal gambling cause Atlantic City gets all the action. That's why he's setting up shop out here."

"Of course," Chin put together, "Honolulu just shut down legalized gambling again. Salvo knows this is an island of opportunity. He takes over illegal gambling, does things his way."

"Let me tell you, he will spread like a virus, okay?" Danny likened. "And since the Jersey mob doesn't like partners-"

"It's only a matter of time before they cut out the Samoans completely," Mitch added.

"Once that happens, every street from Mauka to Makai will be as bloody as that football field," Steve said. Understandably, he was angered by the thought. In his view, Hawaii had never been as bloody and dangerous a place to live as Mitch's New york or Danny's Jersey and he didn't like the idea of the mob boss on his island.

"Well, we have to eliminate the virus."

"How?" Kono asked.

"According to Joey," Danny began, "Salvo is here for a sit-down with the head of the Samoan gang. This guy, Tuinei," Danny clicked the guys file and pulled him up on the big screen, "Mana Sapolu's underboss."

"Right," Steve nodded, "Tomorrow night is Tuinei's big audition to see if he can run these casinos. We need to be on the inside getting Salvo on tape spelling out the partnership."

"Okay, how are we gonna do that?" Chin asked.

Mitch looked at Kono with a smile. "I've got an idea."

* * *

Not an hour later, Kono was walking on the beach with her cousin, wearing a striped bikini and carting a surfboard along with her. "What do you need, cuz?" Sid asked, "You said it was urgent."

"There's a rolling casino tonight," she brushed her hair out of her face as she spoke, "Can you get us in?"

"They said I was working security detail for something," Sid nodded.

"Then will you do it?"

He shook his head minutely, "You're putting me in a tough spot, kid. If this thing goes south, I risk compromising my investigation."

"I wouldn't be asking you to do this if I didn't think that we had a real shot at ending this gang war," she assured him as they came to a stop.

"I'll help you," he said pointedly, "but I don't want anything to do with Chin Ho," he practically spat the man's name as he walked away a few steps.

Kono shook her head, "That's cold, brah. You guys are still family."

"You think I wanna feel this way?" he asked her hotly, "We were boys, me and Chin." He shook his head. "Thought I knew him."

"You do know him," she defended her cousin fiercely.

"I know that what he did set me back with H.P.D.," Sid retorted. "I know If I'm not the one volunteering for the hardest jobs, the one that nobody will take," he said, "they're gonna think I'm dirty too. You think I like living in a tenement, away from my wife and baby almost a year?" there was a very real pain in his voice that said he missed them more than anything. "That's what being related to Chin Ho did for me."

"You ever think for a second maybe he didn't do anything," Kono asked, "that he was set up?"

"All that matters are what the bosses think," Sir protested, "And they took his badge away." He paused. "To think anything else is career suicide."  
"He protected you at the field," she said, "This is how you pay him back?"

"No," Sid shook his head firmly. "He thought I was a gangbanger and he let me go. What kind of cop does that?"

"The kind who knows how to look after his family," Kono defended.

Sid breathed, shaking his head. After a moment, he looked over at her. "I worry about you, Kono. You know those H.P. D. guys, the one that you depend on for backup?" he suggested. "Think they don't know who your cousin is?"

"They're wrong about him and so are you," there was a note in her voice that said he was hitting a nerve. "He's a good man," he voice was hard.  
Sid scoffed softly. "Listen, kid, if you want my help, you got it," he said. "But not Chin. End of story."

"He's not going undercover," she said, but there was a hint of bitterness in her voice as she looked at Sid. "Everyone knows him on the island. It's just me, Mitch, McGarrett and Danny."

"I can probably get you and the woman in if you don't mind serving drinks," he said, "I don't know about the other two haoles."

"They clean up nice," Kono said. "They can go as whales. Trust me."

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry for the wait! Another chapter will be up later today to make up for it. Lemme know what you think. I have a bit or of a break for the next few weeks so I'll be back to updating!_

 _Also, special thanks to those people who favorited and/or followed me during this impromptu hiatus! Welcome!_


	22. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 6

Episode 3 "Malama Ka 'Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 6

* * *

"Oh this is ridiculous," Mitch said in disdain, holding up the thin bright red piece of fabric she was expected to wear.

Kono's mouth quirked upward at the look on her partner's face as she pulled her tank top over her head and began unbuckling her belt.

"I fucking hate undercover ops," she muttered, stripping out of her skinny jeans. "This thing's not even gonna cover my ass."

Kono slipped her arms into the loose sleeves and wrapped the silky fabric around her as Mitch ripped her tank top off and did the same. Kono almost laughed at the look on her friend's face as Mitch tied the belt around her waist. The fabric clung to her breasts and hips, cutting off at the tops of her thighs, just barely covering the curve of her ass. It hung off Kono's figure in a manner that was slightly more flattering. She was of a slimmer build than Mitch, the robe acting a little more as a dress than it did on the other woman.

"You two ready?" Steve knocked on the door. As the two women finished tying up their curled hair. Kono's piled intricately on top of her head while Mitch simply pinned her curled million-shades-of-brown hair back from her face so it fell down her back.

"Shove it up your ass, Steve," Mitch shot back. Kono's eyes widened. She was always surprised when Mitch cursed at the Navy SEAL with such familiar movements. It was easy to forget Mitch was just as decorated as Steve. He was stoic and professional, though a little impulsive where Mitch was loud and a casual, though clearly patient. "These these outfits are ridiculous."

"C'mon Mitch they can't-" he said, leaning against the wall. He stopped, eyes widening when she strolled out of the bathroom in the high heels Chin had altered to hold their earpieces. She cocked a hip, raising her eyebrows at him as if to say 'you were saying?'

Kono almost laughed at the look on his face, wondering how many people could say they successfully caused a Navy SEAL —Steve McGarrett at that— to lose their composure.

An hour later, they climbed out of the limo in front of the rolling casino, stepping out after the other girls and plastering cute ditzy smiles on their faces as they tried to get a look around. One man pointed them in the direction of the other girls, gesturing harshly. Kono smiled bright and tilted her head, biting the tip of her thumb as she grabbed Mitch's hand, following the other girls into the next room before they disappeared behind a bookshelf.

"This is gonna be one long-ass night," Mitch muttered at hey both took off their right shoe and detached the heel, retrieving their comms and hooking it over their ears. "We're in," Kono said.

"Copy that," Chin answered, "I have house security online."

Outside, Sid let Danny and Steve in, checking the list and telling the doorman they were good to go.

"That guy's all yours," Steve motioned to a large man by the door.

"Ahem. He's very large."

"We're in," Steve said, the comm picking up the words.

"Gotcha, coming in loud and clear," Chin answered from a van parked not far away.

"Vaveni and soda, please," a man asked Danny.

"What do I look like?" the jersey man answered hotly. "Try one of the ladies holding drinks. Yeah, good idea, right?" he eyed the man who sheepishly walked away before looking over at Steve, "How come I look like a waiter and you look like James Bond?"

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Steve placated his partner.

"Clearly," Danny muttered as they took a seat around a roulette table.

"Mind if we join you?" Steve said smoothly, "Ten to start." He noticed Mitch across the room. She was built a little differently than the other girls the Samoan's had wandering around in those tiny red robes serving drinks. She was a little thicker, a little less boobs and butt and a bit more muscle mass. But attractive was attractive and no one was going to notice the difference. She nodded at him, the green in her dark eyes popping.

"Gentlemen, Salvo's on his way in with Tuinei, the new Samoan boss," Chin informed them.

"What do you think?" Danny nudged Steve and looked at the girls playing cards at their table. The smiled at him, playing with their hair.

"I think he's got an ace," Steve slipped over his card.

After exchanging glances with Steve, Mitch nudged Kono in the direction of Salvo and Tuinei, seeing the suited men walking across the hall. "Looks like they could use a drink," she murmured, pouring a drink for a tall man who leaned up just a bit too close to her.

"Me?" Kono asked.

"I sound like New York," Mitch said, forcing a smile as his hand brushed over her backside. "Think he'll be more… receptive to a local."

Kono rolled her eyes, "Next time, you're the eye candy," she told Mitch who shrugged lightly, pushing the drink cart into Kono's hands.

"Don't count on it," she said with a joking wink. "I got your back. Go get 'em, girlie."

Kono plastered that simpering smile to her face and put a little extra swing in her hips as she approached them. They didn't stop her, their eyes trailing over her body slowly as she leaned against the door. "Such serious men," she mused, looking at the man called Frank Salvo. He was fairly short, with grayed hair, but a wrinkle free face. If he wasn't a mob boss she'd say he was handsome for his age. "How about a drink before business?

"Whiskey, straight up."

"Beer in a bottle."

Nodding, Kono turned and retrieved their drink from the carted bar and handed them their respective drinks, lingering just a moment to smile, brushing a hand over his back and sneaking a mic under Salvo's collar when he said, "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Enjoy. I hope you like it," she threw over her shoulder with a smile.

"Got to come out here more often," Salvo's eyes lingered on her as he spoke to Sapolu's underboss Tuinei. Then, he turned to business, "All right, look, now that Sapolu's gone, my friends on the mainland are a little concerned that you can do everything that Mana said you could."

"We can and we will," Tuinei assured the other man, "We're more motivated than ever to take out the Triads."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Frank raised his head, swirling his drink in its glass. "We're not shipping out all this firepower and cash for you to finance some never-ending gang war. You're getting paid to get the Triads out of the gambling business so that we can go on with our operation uncontested, that's it."

"Then your money is being well spent," Tuinei said, gesturing around himself at their surroundings, "You've seen for yourself. Our gaming rooms are up and running. Rolling locations-"

As the two men spoke, one of Salvo's men approached Sid, taking the guest list because 'the boss wanted to see it'. It was more than enough to warrant suspicion.

"Guys, I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Chin muttered.

Salvo interrupted Tuinei. "Now I need to know from you that you and your people are gonna protect my investment."

As he spoke, the man who approached Sid, came into the room, handing Salvo the list with a small nod. "Sir, I think you need to see this."

"What is that?"

"You know what to do," Salvo told the man, never looking towards Tuinei.

"Is something wrong?"

"How is it that you people have been fumbling around on this moss-covered rock for generations," Salvo began, his eyes landing dangerously on the underboss, "and in two seconds, my men find two names on that list that don't check out?"

"We've been made," Chin sat up, ripping of his headphones as he grabbed his gun.

"Get Sid in here," Tuinei said, "He's running the gate. I wanna see him right now."

"My men are handling Sid," Salvo assured, "You just find the two men that he let in here."

"Where did they take Sid?" Steve asked over the comms, Danny at his back as they exited the casino.

"Salvo's got him by the pool," Chin responded, rushing in, gun in hand. "He's in trouble. I'm coming in with backup now."

"Kono and I are on our way," Mitch's voice sounded over the comms.

At the pool, three men forced Sid to his knees, slamming a fist into his abdomen. He was bloodied and bruised, standing unarmed in the center of them. "Tell me what I wanna know, I make it fast and painless," Salvo told him.

"That's very considerate of you," he responded angrily, earning him another hard punch.

"It is when you consider the other option, which is I put one in your gut and I watch you bleed out," he said, holding up his gun. "Because that's exactly what's gonna happen if you don't start talking. Now, who are those two guys you let in here? And are you a cop?"

Giggling interrupted them as Kono and Danny stumbled into the area, tangled around each other as Kono giggled, nuzzling her face into his, using the excuse of being drunk and amorous as a cover.

"Get them the hell out of here."  
The man approached them, pushing them apart as Danny stepped back, asking, "Whoa, whoa, hey. Guys, I'm really sorry. We don't want any trouble."

The distraction afforded Chin the chance to sneak around, incapacitating one man with a strong kick to the head and lock his gun on Salvo as Mitch, seeming to appear from nowhere, grabbed him from behind, knocking his gun from his grasp and forcing his arms behind his back until Steve could lend her his handcuffs.

"What? You didn't bring any?" he asked.

She looked pointedly up at him, raising her eyebrows, "I'm wearing a thong, Steve, exactly where do you think I could clip a pair of handcuffs to me."

A smirk quirked his lips upward as his eyes dragged down over her body, "Mmm… I might be able to think of a few places."

* * *

"Hey," Steve greeted as Danny met him in the hall.

"Hey. So, uh, H.P.D.'s rolling out the red carpet for Sid," Danny told him.

"What do you mean?" his eyes narrowed.

"Well, he goes undercover. Basically ends the gang war. Now he helps us get Salvo," Danny listed. "The guy's a hero now."

"So are he and Chin cool now?"

"I don't know if I'd say cool," Danny drug the sentence out. "More like defrosting, you know? It's gonna take time." He paused, shrugging slightly, "It's a hell of a grudge to hang on to, man."

"Chin saved that guy's life."

"Yeah, that reminds me," Danny said, "did you, uh, speak to the Governor about my custody issue?"

"The governor doesn't discuss her business with me. I might have heard something about Step-Stan building a new hotel and, uh," Steve didn't look at his partner. "You need government approval for that."

Danny shook his head. "Thank you."

Steve stopped. "Let me ask you something. How far deep did you have to dig?" he asked, "I mean, how much of your soul did you just lose by actually appreciating me?" he smiled a little at the jersey cop.

"Uh, well, measuring," Danny waved his hand.

"Right," Steve clapped him on the shoulder. "Maybe you're not as alone around here as you think, Danno."

He was about to walk in the room —Kono, Mitch and Chin looked to be watching something on the television— when Danny interrupted him. "Hey, another thing."

"Yeah?"

"Mitch," Danny inclined his head towards the New Yorker sitting on the table, "Is she all right?"

He saw Steve's jaw clench. "Yeah, fine."

"She didn't seem fine, something was up with her today," Danny pointed out. "She doesn't seem like someone who gets involved with other people's business, but…"

Steve sighed. "Your custody battle set her off a little, I think," he admitted. "Her parents had a pretty bad split," he revealed, "she doesn't like to talk about 'em."

"Hmph." Danny sounded, "That makes two of you."


	23. Malama Ka 'Aina Part 7

Episode 3 "Malama Ka 'Aina" (Respect the Land)

Part 7

* * *

"What are we watching?" Steve asked as he entered the room. Kono and Chin sat on opposite sides of the table, leaning back in their chairs. Mitch had plopped herself on top, one leg hanging off the edge and the other crossed in front of her.

"You getting your ass handed to you in the state championship," Kono smirked back at him, eliciting a laugh from Mitch. She was definitely corrupting the young officer, but both seemed to be enjoying it. Chin, for his part, didn't seem worried.

"Kukui put all the old games online," Chin told him.

"Ooooh," Mitch winced, as on-screen-Steve got was tackled behind the line. He shook his head at her teasing smile but didn't rise to the bait.

"You just got sacked, boss," Kono tossed a piece of popcorn in her mouth. Should have passed."

"Why pass when you can run?" Steve replied smugly as, during the next play, he ran the football over into the endzone, jumping athletically over one failed-tackler and dodging another— scoring a touchdown for his team.

They all laughed, making some impressed noises and small whoops of victory for a game long past. "Ah, see, now I gotta admit," Chin pointed, "That was a beautiful play."  
"Thank you," Steve nodded.

"Your dad couldn't stop screaming," Chin reminisced.

Steve started, "You were there with my dad?"

Chin paused the video. "Yeah," he nodded. "I was fresh out of the academy, he was my training officer. I tell you," he smiled, "any day that Steve McGarrett was starting at quarterback was an official day off."

Steve was talented enough to mask the flash of uncertainty in his eyes, but Mitch caught it. He was discovering things about his father he'd never known every day. The man kept his kids at arms length and Steve had gotten used to it. Hearing how he cared, even in little ways, threw him a little of his game.

"I just got one question," Danny began, looking up at Steve. "What's a quarterback doing with the number 50?"

"No, it's Five-O," Steve corrected.

"Yeah," Danny said, not seeing the difference.

"No, it's not 50," Steve reiterated, "It's Five-0. It's what my dad used to call our family because we weren't native Hawaiians, so he nicknamed us Five-0's after the 50th state in the union. I don't know," he shrugged, "it was his way of making us feel like we belonged someplace, I guess."

"Hmm," Kono hummed, looking over shoulder, "I like that. Five-0."

She stopped Danny on their way out of the office. "Hey, Jersey?" she sounded almost pensive. The unsure, almost self-conscious curl of her shoulders inward didn't suit her.

He stopped. "Everything okay?"

She bit her lip and shook her head. "Look, I know I was a little weird today," she said, "You just," she sighed, bowing her head for a second. She appreciated the way he listened, gave her a moment. He didn't push or prod. He just listened. "Your whole thing… with your ex and Grace," she said.

His eyes narrowed briefly, softening to a light blue when she said, "Reminded me of my Dad." A brief, sorrowful smile passed over her face. "He was in the army, and then a NYPD officer… my mom she couldn't handle the life, being married to a soldier and a cop. Divorced him. Broke his heart," she elaborated. She didn't meet his eye as she continued, "She didn't even fight for custody, really… barely even came around after. Then she met my step-dad and," she shook her head, an angry look passing over her eyes, "Well, he hated me and things went downhill from there."

"That's-," Danny began.

"-A lot, I know," she said. "I'm not usually big on personal details," she said quickly, "but this is a special circumstance and-"

"Rachel's not pressing the issue," he interrupted, "Steve pulled some strings with the Governor, something about Step-Stan."

Some of the weight that had settled in her eyes over the course of the day lifted as a genuine smile, surprisingly soft and sweet for someone who's glare was so murderous, overcoming her face. She was really rather beautiful under the foul mouth and her defensive nature. She nodded, "That- That's good, Jersey… that little girl adores you."

Danny smiled.


	24. Hotch

In-between

* * *

"Hotch," she said, phone to her ear, sitting at the breakfast bar in Steve's house. He listened, poking at the grilled cheese he was cooking as she tapped her fingernails against the counter. "Yeah," he heard her say. "I know Prentiss is leaving too…"

She nodded her head. "Okay. I- Thank you," she said softly. "Tell Reid I'm sorry… Yeah no, Morgan's helping me move. I already talked to Pen." She smiled at something her boss said. "JJ and Rossi want to come visit."

She smiled again, leaning against the counter. "Bring Jack, yeah?' Her smile faded as she nodded, though her lips did lift briefly when she caught Steve's eye. "Yeah I will. I'm in good hands here, don't you worry," she almost laughed as the satisfied nod nod of Steve's head as he listened in. "Take care, Hotch."

He acted more upbeat than he felt. He wondered if he was tearing her away from her team, from these people she called her friends.

"You're not," she said suddenly, staring intently at him. "I wanted to go. They're good people," she said firmly, "but chasing serial killers across the country isn't for me," she told him. "I did enough long distance cat-and-mouse with counter-terrorism and the army. I'm done with that." She was serious, more serious that she ever was, her dark eyes seeming almost black despite the lightness of the room. "This, Hawaii," she gestured around the house, to the ocean outside, to the kitchen they were in. "This is what I want… it's what I need, Steve."

He smiled, flipping the grilled cheese onto a plate and sliding it in front of her, feeling embarrassingly giddy.

She looked happily up at him, her smile bright and wide.

"Good."


	25. Lanakila Part 1

EPISODE 4 "Lanakila" (Victory)

Part 1

* * *

"Steve, hey." He heard the grin in her voice as he answered his phone. "Howzit?" she asked, sounding a little like Kamekona for a second.

"Did you just-"

"I'm adopting the local lingo," she said, "I kinda dig it."

He could tell she was smiling on the other end of the phone. Truthfully, he was glad she was adapting so well. She moved her for him, for his task force, for Five-O. Sometimes he felt like he was tearing her away from her life. Then she'd say something like that, or about the beach or the sky, and he'd see the relaxed lay of her shoulders, the way she tilted her face into the sun— She was more at ease on this island than he'd ever seen her on the mainland or any army base.

"Your sister show yet?"

He grit his teeth and checked his watch. It had been over an hour since the flight from LA had landed. There were maybe four luggage bags left and although Mary's was one of them, she was nowhere in sight. "No," he said tightly, picking up the blue suitcase.

She didn't answer right away. "Maybe she missed the flight or something… she didn't call you?"

"Mitch, no."

"Well, it's been, what? An hour?"

"Over," he said, looking around. "Mitch, there's no one in this terminal anymore. She-"

He was interrupted by airport security. "Commander McGarrett?"

He looked at the officer, a bad feeling washing over him. _What did she do now?_ He thought. "Mitch, I gotta call you back."

"Steve?"

"Don't worry about it," he said before hanging up. He put his phone in his pocket and said, "This is about my sister, isn't it?"

* * *

She disabled a smoke detector on board in the bathroom," the security guard explained, escorting Steve to the holding area where his sister was being held, "which is a federal offense. So we arrested her soon as she landed."

"Great," Steve said, his lips pressing into a thin line as the guard opened the door and he was allowed in.

"Jail?" Mary questioned incredulously, leaning forward, "Are you serious? It was just a cigarette."

"Okay officer," Steve said, looking at his sister and then back to the security guard who walked him in. "I think we're good now." He held a hand up to the officer talking to his sister and laid her luggage on the ground.

"Steve McGarrett, from the governor's task force," the man introduced him to the other officer on duty.

"You can release her into my custody," Steve said.

The other man nodded, "Let me check with my supervisor."

"Thank you."

There was a heavy silence as the officers exited the room and he was left alone with his sister. She didn't look too much different from the last time he'd seen her. Maybe a bit jet lagged, but still the same. She was still dying her hair blonde, cutting her bangs at the eyebrows. She wore a brown bomber jacket with a flowy white tee shirt underneath, jeans, and a pair of black boots that clung to her calves.

"I'm sorry, I messed up," she told him.

He responded, "I missed you at dad's funeral, Mary," and leaned against the table, crossing his arms in front of him.

Her shoulders tightened as she leaned back in the chair. "Yeah, well, something came up." She shook her head. "Do you know the last time I saw you was at mom's funeral?"

Steve looked away from her for a moment.

She scoffed. "I guess that's the way we do our family reunions," she said bitterly with a small shake of her head. "Because I was thinking it could have been cool to have a picnic in between or something, you know?"

"Picnic?" Steve looked at her.

"Yeah, a picnic. Something that, I don't know, normal families do," she said, shrugging. Sadly, the McGarrett's were anything but normal.

* * *

"I'll be back," Steve told his sister, parking the car in front of the prison door and getting out. "Hey, stay," he told her, sticking his head back through the open window as she opened her door to follow him.

"I'm not a dog," she protested.

"Stay," he repeated.

He shook his head as she imitated a dog, barking at him from inside the car as he walked away. His eyes narrowed when he saw his partner, "What happened to you?"

Danny was sporting his usual 'professional' attire, along with a small limp and a wooden cane. "Oh, uh, I blame you," he said. "I tore my ACL somewhere in the last few weeks. All the fun we've been having together."

"Heh," Steve sounded, "well, once you're done bitching about your boo-boo, I'd love to know what's going on here."

"We got an escaped prisoner, three dead guards. Department of Public Safety is trying to figure out what happened."

"Where's Chin and Kono?" Steve asked.

"Inside getting a background," Danny answered, "Mitch is there too. That your sister in the car?"

"Yeah, I just came from the airport." Steve didn't look at him.

"You realize if she were a dog, you could get a ticket for leaving her in the car like that."

Steve narrowed his eyes and shook his head holding a hand out to his partner, "Can we just focus, please?"

"Yeah. Why do you have aneurism-face?" Danny's eyes narrowed as he looked at Steve's slightly pinched, narrow-eyed look.

"I don't have aneurism-face," Steve said hotly.

"She gave you aneurism-face?" Danny gestured to the car.

"How many times can you ask me the same question?"

"'You gotta seek first to understand then to be understood'," Danny quoted, raising one hand to gesture with his words. "One of seven principles of successful people."

"I will literally pay you cash to stop talking, okay?" he said, turning to stop an H.P.D officer passing by. "Excuse me, officer?" He laid a hand on the passing man's shoulder, "My pickup is around the corner, there's a woman in it," he pointed. "It's my sister, I'm putting her in your custody, okay? Get her some food, take her back to my office. "Don't take your eyes off her till I get there, you got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you. You happy?" he asked Danny.

"Hey," Mitch greeted, Chin and Kono flanking her as they approached, "How'd the airport go?" Steve didn't have time to answer, she took one look at his face and then furrowed her eyebrows while scrunching up her nose, sucking in a breath. "Ouch, you're making the face."

Danny gestured to Steve harshly, as if saying 'see?', but the SEAL ignored him, glaring lightly at Mitch who didn't seem bothered in the least.

"All right, I'll bug you 'bout it later," she said, waving a hand as if to push the issue off to the side. "Our fugitive's name is Walton Dawkins," she said and let Chin brief them from there.

"He's originally from the mainland but he did ten years at the Allen Correctional Facility in Cleveland for multiple home invasions," he said, looking up from his pad of notes at them. "Apparently, our guy likes hitting families with big money. Then he violated his parole by coming to Hawaii six years ago. My guess, it wasn't for the surf."  
"Dawkins killed a couple during his burglaries," Kono added.

"But get this," Mitch added gesturing briefly with her hands, "according to the warden, he's been a model prisoner until now."

"So, what changed?" Danny asked.

* * *

 _A/N: HEY! Thanks for the favs and follows! This story is up and running again, sorry about the hiatus. It'll probably happen again- that's just life, but I promise I'm always coming back! :)_

Special thanks to Melfris, Bprice and Alex Lover for commenting on the last chapter! You're all amazing!


	26. Lanakila Part 2

Episode 4

Part 2

* * *

Mitch sat in a chair inside the prison. It was a guards office, the video feeds of the whole prison available. She pulled up the feed from when the inmate had collapsed.

"Yo, you all right, bro?" one of the men onscreen said in the feed, looking around as the other man collapsed. "Hey, guards. We need help in here." she stopped the video.  
"So right before the inmate collapsed," Danny who was standing behind her to the left, leaning on the counter said, "he was complaining of shortness of breath, pain in his arm. Textbook signs of cardiac arrest."

She quirked an eyebrow, looking at the man.

"Little young to be dropping dead of a heart attack, don't you think?" Steve said.

"Definitely," she agreed, just as Chin and Kono entered, holding a box.

"Not if he was poisoned," Chin pointed out, setting the box on the counter.

"Found this stuff in Dawkin's cell," Kono patted the rim.

"Nutmeg," Chin pulled from the box, holding it up.

Mitch raised her head, eyes going wide. "Bingo," she chimed.

"Yeah, they got the prison bake sale coming up," Danny said sarcastically, not seeing the importance. Kono hadn't either until Chin had explained it to her.

"Hang on a second," Steve said. "You can extract myristicin from nutmeg. It's an organic compound, it has psychoactive properties."

Mitch shook her head, Danny didn't care about the science-y stuff. He just wanted to know why it was important. "It works like a drug," she narrowed his speech down. "In large doses, it's lethal and real fast-acting."

"So Dawkins poisons an inmate as a distraction, shoots a few guards and walks out the door wearing one of their uniforms," Danny summarized.

"In broad daylight," Mitch added. "Seems like a whole lot of unnecessary exposure for someone trying to sneak out," she said.

"Price of freedom?" Chin suggested as the man's excuse.

"Maybe he didn't think he'd have time to dig a tunnel," Steve said, turning his eyes back to the video as Mitch played it again. Both of their eyes were glued to the small screen as the scene replayed.

"What else have we got?" Danny asked.

"One of the maintenance guys reported his car stolen from the parking lot. We got H.P.D. a description," Kono said.

Steve pointed to a guard who helped pick up the fallen inmate, "There," he muttered, but only Mitch heard.

"Well, let's assume Dawkins knows that too so he's gonna abandon that car," Danny said.

"What's he doing with a gun?" she asked, rewinding the video feed.

"We'll find it," Chin said. "It'll tell us where he's going."

"Watch this," Steve told the others as Mitch pressed play. "Keep your eyes on the guard. Look at his holster," he said as Mitch paused the video.

"The safety strap's unfastened," Danny said. "Wait a minute," he paused. "What the hell is he doing with a gun, anyway? Weapons are for towers, gates and transports only."

"My thoughts exactly," Mitch told him.

"Maybe it was a rookie mistake," Chin said.

"No, not a rookie mistake, " Danny was adamant, "He's in on it. He wanted Dawkins to have that gun."

"What's in it for the guard?" Chin asked.

"Whatever it is, it was worth putting an armed and dangerous fugitive back on the streets," Steve said.

* * *

"Hey. Billy Omana, right?" Steve said roughly as they approached the officer in the locker room. He had a bright orange prison jumpsuit in hand that he tossed at the sitting officer when he looked up at them. "Yeah, put those on," he said.

"Excuse me?" the man pulled back.

"Oh, he said put them on," Danny recapped.

"Who the hell you guys think you are?"

"What did Dawkins offer you to help him escape from prison today?" Steve asked harshly, looking down at the tall man in the blue uniform.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he denied.

"Billy, if you answer incorrectly one more time, we're gonna put those scrubs on you, drop you in the general population," he threatened, his tattooed biceps peeking out the bottom of his collared shirt. "How long you think you'll last there?"

"Heh," the man sounded nervously looking between the two cops, "you can't do that."

"This here," Steve tapped the bright gold badge hooked onto his belt, "says I can."

The man paused, then said, "Dawkins said if I helped him, he'd give me 50 grand."

"And you believed him?" Danny asked, incredulous.

"He arranged for $10,000 to be wired into my account," the prison guard defended weakly. "It was everything he had. I'd get the rest as soon as he got out."

"Where'd he say the rest of the money was coming from?"

"I don't know," he told them. "He told me was there was a lot of it waiting for him on the outside, but in order to get it, he needed to get out today."

* * *

Danny wasn't sure how he felt about Mitch coming with them into the middle of the prison yard, amid the convicted criminals who probably haven't seen a woman off the television or playboy pages in years. She brushed off his concerns with an irritated, almost angry swipe of her hand. "I can take care of myself, Jersey," she shrugged him off. "Used to do this all the time for the FBI."

It didn't make him feel any better about it. Steve didn't say a word about it, but there was a tense set to his shoulders that didn't usually sit there as he walked just ahead of her.

As the walked across the yard to the prisoner the warden had directed them to, the short, dark-skinned and thick-haired man playing basketball, their eyes stuck to her— to the thick mess of brown hair tied in a loose ponytail at the back of her head, the way her black tank top clung to her figure and tucked into the green cargo pants that hugged her ass but flared out at the leg and fell over her black ass-kicker boots. So the two boxed her in, and though she noticed she didn't call them out, just rolled her eyes and gave them a pointed look that said she knew exactly what they were doing.

"Skeet," Danny took the lead and greeted the prisoner, "I'm Detective Williams. This is Commander McGarrett" he gestured to Steve and then Michelle, "and Lieutenant Jabali. We hear you and Walton Dawkins were neighbors for four and a half years. Warden says you used to be pretty tight."

"Well, in the non-biblical sense," the man responded with a sideways grin, basketball in hand, "if you dig what I'm saying."

"So, what happened?" Danny asked. "Why the beef?"

"I didn't appreciate him trying to gut me with a shiv last week," he responded. "He said I was asking too many questions."

"Questions have anything to do about why he bounced today?" Mitch interjected, her eyes dark and expression hard.

"It's possible I may have some pertinent information," he grinned at her, eyes sweeping over her body briefly. "But, uh, you're gonna have to play me for it," he said.

"Play you?" Steve asked blandly.

"That's right," Skeet nodded, weighing the basketball in his hands. "You win, I'll tell you everything I know."

Steve looked down at the man and stepped forward threateningly. "What's to stop me taking that and beating it out of you?"

"Bring it," he said. "They got better food at the hospital, anyway. What the hell you got to threatened me with, man?" he asked. "More lockup time?"

"Okay," Danny said. "Might be able to help you shave some time off your sentence."

"I'm doing double life, gimp," Skeet told Danny.

"Excuse me?" Danny responded, bristling in offense.

"You got a busted ear too, man?" Skeet's eyes narrowed at the blond man. "I'm on permanent vacation, no parole. You can shave ten years off my time but I ain't never getting out. So it's either B-ball with tall, dark and uptight here," he gestured vaguely at Steve, "or nothing. I got all the time."  
"What do you get if we lose?" Mitch asked skeptically.

"I get the pleasure of beating a cop's ass in front of the whole yard," he grinned, raising his hands to the sides as the prisoners cheered wildly.

"One condition," Mitch interrupted, stopping Steve from stepping forward to accept the terms of the game.

Skeet laughed, looking her over again, "Lay it on me, G.I. Jane. That tat even real?" he nodded towards the faded army tattoo on her right shoulder.

She ignored the barb. "Two-on-two," she said steadily, not bothering to scold the other man for the less than creative nickname he bestowed upon her or the remark about her tattoo.

Danny sputtered in an attempt to head her off, but Steve made no attempt to stop her.

"Two-on-two," he repeated with a grin, nodding his head, looking her up and down again. She was just a little taller than him with her boots on. "You got it," he said, tossing the ball at her. She caught it at her chest and threw it back as she and Steve moved forward onto the makeshift court.

"Oh, yeah, play basketball," Danny threw his hands up and said, "It's not like we have a killer to catch."

"The clock's ticking," Steve said and gestured at Skeet. "He's our best lead."

"All right, game's to 21," Skeet said and began to circle the court, gesturing for his slightly taller, broad-shouldered buddy to join him. He grinned at Mitch. The smile she delivered in return was lethal.

"Ten," Steve corrected.

Skeet shrugged. "Man's in a hurry," he said. "Okay, since, uh, you're a guest in my house, you take it in." He passed the ball to Steve.

Mitch shook her guard easily, but Steve wasn't quick enough with the pass and Skeet grabbed hold of it easily, dribbling twice and passing to his friend, whose reach was long enough to take possession of the ball without her interference and toss it in the hoop.

"I got a tip. So you know, the other guy putting the ball in the hoop is bad," Danny called out to the pair.

She shot him the finger as Steve said, "Danno, shut up."

"Do me a favor don't call me Danno, huh?"

"Yo," Skeet said, "How long you two been married?"

"Come on, play ball," the other man said.

"Okay, all right."

This time when she darted out from the prisoner's reach, Steve passed her the ball and she dribbled it quicker than he expected up the court. He got what she was going for running up to take position by the hoop. Skeet and the other man traded positions, the taller man guarding Steve as Skeet knocked into Michelle, the sudden jolt caused her to pitch forward knocking her throw off trajectory and making it simple for the other man to catch and hoop. It would have been a foul in high school. She supposed it made sense that prison didn't follow the same rules.

"Time out. Time out," Danny called, making a 'T' with his hands.

"All right, time," Skeet shrugged.

"Ahem," Danny sounded and looked at Steve, "you, uh, never played basketball, have you?" Mitch laughed, brushing her long bangs behind her ear.

"No," Steve said, "I've played once or twice."

"Yeah?" Danny nodded, "I could see that. It looked like I was watching LeBron," he said sarcastically, "maybe he's just this much better," he help up a pinched finger.

"Okay, you know what?" Steve reacted, "Football was my sport, okay?"

"Now you tell me that?" Danny shook his head.

"Look," Mitch interrupted. "I used to play. Was actually pretty good, but, well… these guys are bigger than the girl's I'm used to playing," she admitted with a shrug. "I need you to keep 'em off me," she told Steve.

"Ready to quit?" Skeet taunted.

"Yes," Danny replied at the same time Steve and Mitch called out, "No."

"Which one is it?" he laughed.

"Can you give me a second, please?" Danny held out a hand pushing the other man back, "Can I have some space?" Then he turned to his partners. "All right, listen to me. You're not gonna outshoot him," he told Steve, "so out-D him. All right? Play it like it's football. Put a body on him, keep 'em off Mitchy, let her steal the ball away, put it through the hoop," he suggested. "Huh? What's he gonna do, call a foul?" he shrugged. "We're in jail."

"We can do that," Steve nodded.

So that's what they did. Steve shoulder and body-checked the inmates out of MItch's way as she tossed the ball in the hoop, one, twice, again and again. The last time, she jumped up and slam-dunked the ball, hanging from the hoop for a second before dropping down.

"That's game," she smirked, coming to Steve's side and nudging Danny with a gentle shoulder nudge.

"Let's have it, man," Danny said.

"All right, badge," Skeet rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Here it is. Couple weeks ago," he said, "we're in rec watching some tube. This Samoan dude walks by, he tries to change the channel. Dawkins almost throws down there." He shook his head. "You should have seen him, his eyes were crazy."

"Because he changed the channel?" Danny questioned.

"No, bro, it wasn't that," Skeet shook his head. "It was something on TV that made him go crazy."

"What was he watching?" Mitch quirked her head to the side.

* * *

 _A/N: I... have no excuse. Sorry I haven't been updating, but here's a longer chapter to make up for it a bit._

 _Reviews are love and motivation._

 _Thanks for sticking with me!_


	27. Lanakila Part 3

EPISODE 4 "Lanakila" (Victory)

Part 3

* * *

"Dana, your luxury vacation includes first class airfare, seven nights at the Kahiko Hotel, all-access VIP passes to the annual Festival of the Islands, which kicks off two weeks from now," the man on the game show announced. "And since you'll need a little spending money while shopping on beautiful Kalakaua Avenue, we're throwing in one-million dollars." Money rained down on the pretty auburn haired woman as she screamed and Craig came out from behind the screen to hug her. Mitch paused the television and looked at Danny, the pair of them sharing an equally skeptical look.

"She's the reason Dawkins broke out of prison?" Danny voiced.

"She just won a million dollars and a trip to Hawaii," Steve said.

"Okay well, why her?" Danny pressed, "Like there's not enough rich people on this island." He rolled his eyes.

"She's away from home, out of her element," Steve listed. "Dawkins sees her as an easy target." Mitch shook her head. Steve breathed out. "Whatever. I need everything on Dana, okay? Travel itineraries, flights, car rentals-" he listed.

"Hey, guess what?" Danny said sarcastically as he picked up the phone. "I've done this before, but thank you."

* * *

"That's it," Chin said, looking at the dark-colored car H.P.D. called in. "Matches the description of the car Dawkins stole."

"Five-0," Kono flashed her badge, "we'll take it from here."

"What are you doing?" she asked her opened the car door and the glove compartment, fishing around inside.

"Looking for cash," Chin answered. "It's what Dawkins would have done. Empty. Says maybe he used whatever he found to buy something."

"Food or water?" Kono suggested.

"No," Chin shook his head as his eyes stopped on a restroom not far away. "Dawkins knows his face is all over the news by now. If he wants to get off the island, he needs to change his appearance." They walked towards it.

"Coming in?" Chin called out to his cousin, scanning over the sink and the trashcan in the small men's restroom.

"It's a men's room," she said hesitantly.

"That's the luxury of carrying a badge, kid," he smirked, pulling on a plastic glove as he looked at the garbage can. "You can go anywhere." Hesitantly she stepped inside, giving him a curious look as he began to dig through the trash. "Lemonade mix and mayo," he held them up one at a time. "It's old prison trick for dying hair."

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Mmmhm. Looks like our man's a blond now," he said, picking up a receipt. "Purchases were made at an ABC Store just up the street. Fifteen minutes ago."

"Factor in the time for a dye job and he couldn't have made it very far," Kono put together quickly. "He could still be around here."

When they exited the restroom they scanned over the surrounding beach area and parking lot. "You see that?" she pointed out a scraggly looking man wearing a prison guard's uniform. Chin nodded and followed her over to him.

He was an older man, hair long, scraggly, and grey, a cell phone pressed to his ear. "Excuse me, sir?" Kono interrupted. He kept talking. "Sir?"

"It was off-" he looked down at the two cops. "Gotta call you back."

"Hey, bro," Kono greeted him, gesturing to the blue uniform shirt he wore over a dirty white tee shirt. "Where did you get the uniform?"

"Traded for it," he said, hands folding awkwardly over each other in front of him. "Not really my style," he said. "But the guy threw in a phone too," he held up the flip phone.

"Pretty sweet deal, huh?"

"We're gonna need that phone," Chin said.

"So, what are you gonna trade for it?" the man pulled back.

"How about a pair of handcuffs?"

* * *

"So Dana Thorpe and her fiancé Craig Ellers landed at Honolulu International this morning," Danny told Steve and Mitch as Steve's phone began to ring. "Checked into a hotel ten minutes ago."

"Chin," Steve answered the phone, setting it on speaker so they could all see.

"Hey, H.P.D found the car," he said. "Dawkins abandoned it about 15 minutes ago. Parking lot, Kaka'ako Beach Park."

"Got it," Steve said. "That's three blocks away from where Craig and Dana are staying."

"Time to move," Mitch said.

* * *

They barged into the hotel room, courtesy of the front desk, guns drawn and at the ready. Methodically, Five-O split, each taking a separate room and announcing it, "Clear."  
"Clear," Mitch said, lowering her gun.

"Clear," Steve echoed, coming out of the room across the hall. At the same time, the two noticed a drop of blood on the carpet leading to the one room left-unchecked.

"Oh, no," Mitch's eyes caught onto the pair of feet popping out from behind the bed. "No, no, no." She rushed to the foot of the bed. Steve was right at her heels.

"Dawkins is gone," Chin said, "so is Craig."

"Oh shit," Mitch cursed, dropping down the side of the bloodied woman lying at the foot of the bed. Dana, she recognized belatedly, pressing down on the wound to try and stifle the bleeding. "Steve, help me stifle the bleeding."

"You're gonna be okay," he said as the woman's large green eyes trailed slowly over to him. Mitch's hands pressed against the wound, thick red blood seeping between her fingers, over her painted pink fingernails. "We're gonna get you to a hospital."

"Craig," Dana gasped softly through half-closed lips.

"We're gonna find Craig," he assured her.

"Detective Kelly, Five-0," Chin called the hospital, crouching behind Steve and Mitch. "We need an ambulance," he said. "Kahiko Hotel."

"Come on, come on, come on," Steve chanted, helping Mitch to stuff the wound in the woman's side. Blood was everywhere, soaking their hands, clothes, and the pretty pale carpet beneath them.

"On the way," Chin told them.

"She's not breathing," Mitch said suddenly. She backed up. Suddenly she wasn't in a pretty hotel in Hawaii, Steve beside her. She was overseas, in a collapsed building in Iraq. Alone with a twenty-year-old soldier with cloudy green eyes in her arms. His blood soaked her uniform as she breathed air into his lungs. Her hands shook; her breathing quickened. PJ died.

She vaguely heard her name and when she looked up Danny was staring at her with concern. She was in a hotel. Dana was dying. Steve was giving her CPR. She gripped the Jersey cop's forearm, accidentally coating his arm with red, and didn't let go until Steve was in the ambulance with Dana, and Danny was driving her back to headquarters.

* * *

"Hey," Danny greeted Steve as he walked into headquarters, still sporting the shirt soaked with Dana's lifeblood. "How is she?" he asked.

"She's in surgery," Steve said, "Didn't give me anything on the way. What do we got?" his eyes narrowed, noticing they were one member short. "Where's Mitch?"

"With your sister," Danny answered. He didn't mention any of his concerns. She had pulled herself together remarkably quick once they left the scene ad she hadn't uttered a word about it since.

"With my-" Steve began to repeat, eyebrows furrowing. He couldn't see how that could possibly fare well for him or anyone else but shook his head of the thought all the same.

"Hotel surveillance cam picked this up right after the attack," Kono interrupted, swiping right on the table and pulling up a video feed on the wall monitor. In the video a man forced Craig into a black sedan, a gun at his back, and drove away.

"Doesn't add up," Danny said. "Why take Craig and leave Dana?" he asked the group. "She won the money."

"They were engaged so maybe they have joint bank accounts," Kono suggested, setting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, or maybe he wants Craig for something else," Steve said. "You know what?" he shook his head. "Freeze their accounts. I want thorough backgrounds on Dawkins, Craig and Dana. Run their names through NCIC." He looked at the older Hawaiian man, "Chin, what about the phone you found?"

"Dawkins got it from the car he stole. But the call history was erased. He must have made some phone calls, reached out to the phone company and sure enough, two calls were made right after the escape. The first one went to a local woman named Sofia Archuleta."

"Archuleta," Danny repeated, the name sounded familiar. "That's, uh, Dawkins girlfriend. Warden said she's a regular visitor."

"All right so she's the first one he's going to for help," Steve inferred. "What about the other call?"

"That one was made to a local lightweight ex-con by the name of Makani Huku, they spoke for three minutes."

Steve nodded. "Kono, follow up on the call with Makani," he said, "find out what they were talking about. Chin, pull Dawkins' jacket. See if we find any links on Dana and Craig."

"Easy," she said. Chin nodded his agreement.

"We need to get an address for Sofia," Steve added.

"I'll get it," Danny said, then pointed at Steve's blood-soaked shirt, "You should change your shirt. You look like an animal." Then he pointed at Steve's office and the two women inside it, "You should go apologize to your sister, she's been sitting there for five hours. Mitch just relieved the officer you set on her."

* * *

"Hey," Mitch said, walking into Steve's office and relieving the officer that had been babysitting his sister for the last five hours. "I'm Mitch Jabari."

"Mary," the blonde introduced herself, shaking her outstretched hand.

"Sorry about the wait," she leaned against Steve's desk. "A lot's happened today. Steve'll be in soon, he's with the rest of the team right now, pooling info."

"Is that blood?" Mary's brown eyes widened at the dark spots across the front of her faded black tank top and the the front of her green cargo pants. She'd long since cleaned her hands and arms, but her clothing hadn't received the same luxury.

"I…" Mitch fumbled slightly, picking at her shirt. "Yes…" Mary suddenly looked very worried and Mitch fumbled to relieve her. "It's not mine. Or Steve's… it's- we're all fine. We're all fine. 'Cept our vic… she's- she's at the hospital. Steve went with her."

A small smile began to form on Mary's lips. It was the same lopsided kind of half-smirk that Steve often wore.

"Are you like… second-in-command or something?" Mary leaned forward, her elbows resting on her jean-clad knees.

Mitch laughed. "I don't- I don't know if that's a thing. Maybe?" she said. She looked at Mary and decided Steve's sister was entitled to a bit of her personal info. "I was in the Army, FBI, got lots of experience, and," she shrugged, "I've known Steve for a couple years now."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Mitch nodded, "Had a mostly classified joint mission a few years ago and that's all I can say. We kept in touch."

"He kept in touch with you?"

Mitch noticed the increasing bit of hostility in that statement and paused. She decided to go a different route. "He mentioned you a few times," she said, "said he had a sister in LA… Livin' _La Vida Loco_."

Mary snorted, a small smile splitting her face only to fall as the door opened and Steve walked in, blood splatter all across the front of his shirt as well. "Mary, I'm sorry," he apologized.

She looked at Mitch who nodded, Steve was fine, then back at her older brother. "So was this your, uh, big 'Welcome to Hawaii' plan? Pin me to some guy with a badge?" Mary looked at Mitch and then said to her brother, "and then sic your girl on me?"

Neither officer dignified that with a response, though Mitch looked mildly taken aback.

"Mary, I'm trying to keep you out of jail," Steve sighed. Digging around in one of his desk drawers and pulling out a spare before yanking the one he was wearing over his head and replacing it with the clean one.

Mitch smothered a smile, seeing the way his collar stood straight up and folded awkwardly around the sides. Mary stood, sighing, "Come here," she waved him over. She laughed, reaching her hands up to fix her collar.

Mitch looked down at her shirt and blood splattered pants. "I'm gonna go change," she muttered, leaving the siblings to talk as she walked across the common area to her office across from Steve's.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked his sister, his eyes following Mitch out of his office.

"Punk," she scoffed, pulling his collar over, "you're like, 7 years old."

"I don't get it, Mary," he said when he was finished leaning back against his desk in a manner not unsimilar to how Mitch had a moment ago. "I mean, why come back here? You already missed the funeral."

"You think I feel good about not being there?" she accused.

"Truthfully?" he sighed. "I don't know, I can't tell."

"I mean, we were invisible to that man," she said, shaking her head as she sat back on the couch lining the wall of his small office space. "I would have taken anything from him, even disappointment. Because at least it would have been something."

"Listen, Mary. I know this is really hard for you to accept, okay? But Dad loved us," Steve said. "He just didn't know how to show it, I guess."  
Knocking on the glass door interrupted them as Danny opened the door and limped on in, leaning heavily on his cane. "Hey, I got that address on Sofia Archuleta," he said.

"Mary, right?" he looked to Steve's sister.

"Sis, meet Danno."

"Danny Williams," he reached towards her, shaking her head with a small smile, smoothing back his tie. "What's up?" he asked her.

"Not much," she shrugged. Then her big eyes landed on his attire and she smirked, raising her eyebrows. "A tie," she said, her tone of voice implying she thought it was funny.

Danny shook his head. "What is it with you people and ties?"

"We're in Hawaii," they said in unison.

"Wow, in stereo," Danny said sarcastically. "Great. Thanks." He looked at Steve, "You ready to go? Where's Mitch?"

"Present and accounted for," the woman in question said, sporting a new red t-shirt, blue jeans, and towing Kamekona behind her. "And I brought in a stray."

The big man opened his mouth to say something to her but Steve interrupted, saying happily, "Hey, perfect timing."

"How is it, haole?" Kamekona said to Danny.

"Shamu," the Jersey cop responded in kind, referring to the whale in Atlanta.

"What's with the stick?" the Hawaiian asked. "You got slammed in a cruncher?"

Danny looked at Mitch but she only shrugged looking about as confused as he did. Steve shook his head but Mary looked mildly amused by the two mainlanders' confusion.

"Um, I don't know what that means."

"Sand facial," Kamekona said by way of explaining. "You ate a big one, huh?"

"There was no surfing accident," Steve interrupted, taking pity on his partner. Then he grinned. "He, uh, busted his knee getting out of bed."

"How white can you get?" Kamekona laughed.

"Pretty white," Danny shrugged.

"Who's this?" the big man gestured towards Mary.

"This is my sister, Mary," Steve introduced them. "Mary, meet Kamekona."

"Hey," he said deeply. Mitch and Mary both narrowed their eyes at him, the former putting her hands on her hips and staring at him.

"This is the reason I called," Steve said, clapping the man on the shoulder. "I want a friendly face to make sure she stays put."

"Oh, come on," the blonde groaned, throwing her head back.

"You want me to babysit your little sister?"

"Correct," Steve smirked.

"Shoots, small kine," the Hawaiian smirked.

"All right," Steve grinned victoriously, and then told Kamekona, "She doesn't leave this office, you unders-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Mary exclaimed, "Hold on. Seriously?" Steve nodded. "What if I have to use the bathroom?"

Steve made a face and looked over at his desk, picking up his coffee cup and dumping the contents in a plant behind his desk. Then he handed it to his sister. "Don't spill."

"Oh, God. So inappropriate," Danny mumbled turning his head down in embarrassment.

"Steven McGarrett you did _not_ just do that," Mitch used his full name. All three men's eyes widened in surprise as she snatched the coffee cup out of Mary's hand and shoved it into Steve's chest. Then she looked seriously at Mary, "Bathroom's down the hall." To Kamekona, she said, "You _walk_ her there if she needs it. And give 'er my number," she gestured at Mary, "Just in case."

Mary grinned at the woman, watching as her brother's eyes widened and a small smile overtook his face as the tall fit looking woman with the messy updo and shiny dark eyes ordered Kamekona about and took control. When she was finished she looked between Danny and Steve and said, "All right, we can go now," grabbed Steve's wrist and drug him out of his office tossing, "C'mon, Gimpy," over her shoulder at Danny with a smirk.

When they left Kamekona sat next to Mary on the couch and stretched an arm across the back of the back of the couch.

"Can you quit staring at me like I'm a hot fudge sundae?" she said, adjusting her sitting position to face him.

"Got a boyfriend, little sis?" he asked her.

"You got a girlfriend?" she shot back.

"I did," he said, "but we broke up."

"Tell me about it," Mary shrugged, crossing one leg over the other. "Well, maybe I can help you get back with her."

* * *

 _A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! Thanks for all your support last chapter. Your reviews really lifted my spirits!_

 _Special thanks to_ 50fanofmcgarrett, Hinanui98, natsfanfiction, _and_ Alex Lover _for the kind words and reviewing on the last chapter. Any questions, shoot em at me :)_

 _(ALSO! the first time i posted this it was the wrong chapter, but all is fixed now!)_


	28. Lanakila Part 4

EPISODE 4 "Lanakila" (Victory)

Part 4

* * *

"Boss, I'm at Makani's address," Kono called Steve, eyeing the man as H.P.D. stuffed him into one of their vehicle's. "When I badged him, he tried to rabbit. Didn't get real far." she said as the cop closed the door behind the man.

"What did he tell you about Dawkins?" Steve asked.

"Makani runs a fake ID mill out of the back of his shop," she reported. "Dawkins was in here about an hour ago. He picked up a driver's license and a passport under the name of Carl Isner."

"Update H.P.D. on the new alias. Make sure Homeland Security adds it to their no-fly list," he told her, noticing Mitch gesture to a waitress in the window the diner they were approaching. Then he hung up.

"Do you always have to walk so fast?" Danny breathed, his cane making a crunching noise against the pavement.

"That's Dawkins' girlfriend," he said, watching the dark-haired waitress Mitch had pointed out to him.

"Uh, you know," Danny continued, as they walked in and took a small table by the window, two chairs on both sides— Steve and Danny against the windows and Mitch aside the cane-wielding jersey cop. "Um, your sister, she, uh, wasn't what I expected," he said, "I mean, aside from her hereditary aversion to neckwear, she seemed to be cool."

"Are you saying I'm not cool?" Steve accused.

"Well, in certain situations," Danny held out his hands, "like when you got a gun pointing in your face, or trying to decide whether to cut the blue wire or the red wire, you're good. But human interaction," he said, eyebrows furrowing, "mammal to mammal." Mitch laughed aloud, shaking her head at the looks on their faces. "Room for improvement," Danny suggested, "That's all I'm saying."

"Thank you, Dr. Phil," Steve responded, sounding not at all thankful.

"Can I get you guys something?" their target asked, notepad in hand as she waited on them. She was pretty, Mitch noticed, with curly hair and big brown eyes, smooth skin. Briefly, she wondered how Sofia fell for a guy like Dawkins. She could do much better, even working in a crappy little diner like this.

"Yeah, Walton Dawkins," Steve said harshly, getting right down to business.

"Excuse me?" she asked, looking taken aback.

"Well, yeah. First, Walton Dawkins," Danny said, sounding much more conversational and approachable, "but then I would love some blueberry pancakes. I love pancakes in the afternoon. You like pancakes, Sofia?" he asked her.

"I like pancakes," Steve said. _Yes, he did like pancakes_ , Mitch thought wryly, _he could eat a batch all on his own if he wanted_.

"You do?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Steve shrugged. Mitch rolled her eyes at their back-and-forth.

"Seem more like a napalm-in-the-morning-guy," Danny said.

"Well, that too," Steve shrugged lightly. Mitch cracked a smile despite herself at the agreeing statement.

"But I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Sofia," Danny said.

"It's a broad question."

"You two are ridiculous," Mitch interrupted.

"Who the hell are you guys?" the waitress looked scared now, backing up a step as she stared at them.

"Sofia," Dann began softly. "We know that you spoke to Dawkins this morning. You seem like a reasonable, nice lady, who has made some bad relationship decisions, which I can totally relate to. So we're gonna give you a break."

"Yeah," Mitch smiled, though it wasn't as friendly as she was aiming for. "I mean, this can really only go two ways." Danny wondered if the woman could say anything without it sounding like a blatant threat. "First, you sit down," she gestured to the seat across from her next to Steve, "you tell us what we wanna know. Then you finish your shift and you go home. Or," she said all traces of a smile gone from her face, replaced with a cold stare, "We arrest you in front of all these nice customers and you lose your job."

"And I gotta get my pancakes to go," Danny tacked on the end with a 'what are you gonna do?'-type shrug.

"Because you've been uncooperative, and helped a man who killed three people today," Steve finished the thought and pulled out the chair for her. "You go to jail for aiding and abetting a fugitive. So why don't you take a seat?"

Hesitantly, she did so. Her eyes never staying on any one of them too long. "You recognize this couple?" Danny pushed a picture of Dana and Craig across the table.

"No," she said, "Who are they?"

"They're two tourists that your boyfriend attacked today," Mitch said coldly, "Dana Thorpe and Craig Ellers."

"They're staying at the Kahiko," Sofia offered suddenly.

"How do you know that?" Danny asked immediately.

"I have a friend who works there," she said, "Last time I went to see Walton, he asked me to call her, find out when those two were scheduled to check in."

"That information got Dana shot," Steve told her.

"Look, he didn't say anything about hurting them," Sofia said, her eyes wide. "He just wanted to know when they were coming to Hawaii."

"Why?" Mitch demanded but the waitress only shook her head.

"Okay, Sofia," Steve said, his voice deep and serious. "Dawkins has this guy, Craig, right now and he's gonna kill him. The only way we can prevent that is if you tell us exactly what Dawkins said to you on the phone this morning."

She shrugged and shook her head, "He said something about a big payday." She looked at Danny. "Then asked me for my car."

* * *

"Dawkins is driving a 2010 silver Chevy Malibu," Mitch informed Kono back at HQ. "Car's got a vehicle recovery system. Track it for me?"

"No problem," Kono replied, "Ready."

"Okay," Mitch began. "VIN number is two, niner, whiskey, niner, alpha, alpha, seven, niner, two, eight, one," she rattled off in the same fashion Steve often did.

"Give me 10 minutes," Kono said.

"Hey, I pulled Dawkins jacket," Danny said to her as he and Steve approached.

"You guys gotta see this. This guy's rap sheet reads like a grocery list he's checking off. In Boston, he's jacking cars. In New York, he's robbing ATMs. Then he graduates to full-on bank robberies in Cleveland. Cops there suspected him of murdering his partner, name of Paul Stark. Five million dollars they stole together, never found."

"Look familiar?"

"That's Craig. "

"So no wonder he doesn't take Dana," Danny said. "He doesn't care about her money. He wants the 5 million he stole with Paul- Craig," he corrected.

"Kono?"

"I got him. They just parked outside Pacific Rim Bank."

* * *

"Go, go, go," they stormed the bank's premises, running down the small flight of step and in through both entrances.

"Five-0 requesting backup," Chin requested of H.P.D. Dawkins was still inside for the moment, or so the gunshots and the flock of people scrambling, screaming out of the bank led them to believe. "Pacific Rim Bank, shots fired."

Inside, Dawkins shouted "Everybody out!" and held his gun high ditching his former co-worker in favor of his money and the dark-haired woman in the skirt suit with the bright white name tag. "Are you the manager?" he demanded. She nodded, terrified. "Show me the back door, let's go," he growled clenching her arm in his hand.

"Chin, I see him," Kono announced she had eyes on him from her elevated position.

"Where is he?" Chin asked of her just as the bank manager came running up to him, looking terrified and yelling.

"He took my car," she said.

"Kono," he said, hoping she'd heard.

"I'm on it," she said. "Mitch?" he heard her ask.

"With you," the other woman answered immediately from somewhere off to the side, heading to meet Kono and cut Dawkins off while the others canvased the bak's situation.  
Surprisingly, Dawkins hadn't actually killed his former partner. Just shot him in the shoulder. It was a clean wound. Through and through. Nothing the doctors couldn't fix.

"Dana?" Craig answered worriedly, disregarding the pain in his shoulder or the blood leaking from the wound. He'd likely thought her dead.

"The surgeons are working on her," Steve assured the man. "Listen to me, did Dawkins say where he was going after the bank?"

"I saw a passport," Craig said, "and now that he has his money, he's gonna disappear."

He heard Mitch curse on the other end of the phone. "Dawkins was on his way to the airport, saw our checkpoint and made a U-turn," Kono informed them. He's in the H-3 tunnel, headed into Halawa Valley."

"Uh-oh," Mitch said in the background.

Chin looked across vehicle at Steve, who was driving. "Uh-oh, what?"

"Uh-oh, we're gonna lose traffic cam coverage in about two seconds, is what," Mitch said testily. "One, Two," she counted. "He's gone."

"I'm sorry, there's no other cameras on that road," Kono added.

"All right. Wait a second," Steve said.

"Hold up, I can- Dammit, wait, no. Pen's on a case," Mitch cursed. They heard his fist connect with something solid as she slammed a hand down in frustration. "My computer genius is incapacitated at the moment, know anyone who can get a hold of a satellite?" she questioned.

"Actually, yeah," Steve said, dialing up a lieutenant in the Navy with whom he was _intimately_ familiar. She was deployed, but her phone should have been active and she should be able to help. He and her CO went way back.

"Why, hello there, sailor," she answered smoothly.

"Cath, I need your help. I'm pursuing a suspect in a black Mercedes, he's headed west to the Halawa Valley. Can you give me a visual?" he asked, straight down to business.

"You want me to access an IKON reconnaissance satellite for your car chase?" she asked him incredulously.

"This guy has killed three people already today," he said seriously, not above guilting her.

"Yeah, look," she said, any trace of a smile in her voice absent as she went on. "This could raise some flags."

"Classify it as an NSA request from a black ops drop box, okay?" he said. "Come on, Cath. I need this."

She paused, then said, "You're like the good-looking guy from high school who knows how cute he is and just won't take no for an answer. I've got your black Mercedes, I'm sending you the grid coordinates and imagery now."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he grinned. "Next leave, beers are on me, okay?"

"Oh, you are not getting off that easy." The smile in her voice was clear; a lilt of laughter in her words.

"You got her to use a military recon satellite and then you made a date?" Chin asked with a sharply raised eyebrow, vaguely wondering who this woman was.

"I'm a multi-tasker," Steve shrugged.

Chin sighed and shook his head. "Impressive."

* * *

 _A/N: Another chapter, cause I messed up before. :)_


	29. Lanakila Part 5

EPISODE 4 "Lanakila" (Victory)

Part 5

* * *

Mitch was with Kono and H.P.D while Chin and Steve tracked down Dawkins, following the money-crazed lunatic as he commandeered a helicopter and crash-landed onto the next island over.

Chin borrowed a helicopter from a friend —She swore that man knew _everyone_ — and they chased him through the dense foliage, managing to get to him before his mental state deteriorated and he shot a member of the nice, small, three-person family whose helicopter ride he hijacked and held onto as hostages.

Since that nice small family drank the water and got worms, immediately falling sick, an extraction team was needed.

It took hours before Steve could meet her at the hospital.

"Dana," Craig, or Paul, or whatever the hell his name was croaked his fiancee's names as Steve pushed her wheelchair into the room. Mitch narrowed her eyes at him as he rolled Dana past her and the two police officers, but he only shook his head, the two officers watching silently as the couple's hands found one another.

"Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" she said.

"I was afraid you'd leave me if I did," his voice was soft and broken, his eyes firmly set on Dana's bruised face and her swollen eyes.

"You were wrong," she said.

Mitch left the man's room with Steve and Dana, leaving him to rest as Steve wheeled Dana back to her room. They'd leave after this. Case closed. They'd go back to HQ, wrap things up, then home— to his house, his father's house.

"I know what you're thinking," Dana said, breaking the silence. Neither Steve nor Mitch responded. "How could I not be angry?" she asked hypothetically. "But the man I fell in love with was Craig Ellers," she said, "not Paul Stark." There was something incredibly sweet about that, sweet and romantic and Mitch couldn't help but feel like she could never look at it that way. People were who they were, they changed, but the past mattered. It made them who they were. Nothing wasn't important and no one was ever as innocent as they seemed.

"Everybody deserves a little forgiveness," Dana said.

Mitch hoped that's how it worked.

* * *

"Hey, where's Mary?" Steve grilled Kamekona as they entered headquarters. Kamekona was sitting at the computer, looking none the worse for wear despite the missing blonde woman.

"I got good news and bad news," the Hawaiian man said.

"Oh, no, no."

"The good news, I got back with my girlfriend," Kamekona grinned widely, throwing his hands out to the sides.

"That's good," Steve said dryly.

"Bad news is you lost Mary," Mitch finished looking less than impressed.

"Sorry, she confused me with a Jedi mind trick," Kamekona shrugged.

"You want me to put out an APB?" Danny offered.

"No," Steve said, "I think I know where she is." His eyes caught Mitch's and she tilted her head, something in her gaze seeming to ask if he was okay. He nodded. Her lips quirked upward delicately and then she nodded.

He found her at the cemetery, standing above their father's grave, looking down with an achingly sad look on his face. He closed the door of his truck and walked over to her, careful not to startle her. "What's that?" Mary asked, motioning half-heartedly to the basket in his hand.

"Lunch," he smiled, bending to sit down on the grass.

She sat across from him, legs out to the side as he took the food out of the basket.

They had lunch in the green graveyard, the wind blowing blissfully through the clearing as they sat beside their father and talked.


	30. Nalowale Part 1

EPISODE 5 "Nalowale" (Forgotten/Missing)

Part 1

* * *

Catherine was on shore leave. She was on the island. He owed her a few beers and a night out. Usually… Usually that led to more. They were friends. Lovers, he guessed, though the term seemed _wrong_ somehow. She had her career and he had his. They simply met up when it was convenient, helped each other out now and again.

He'd never told her about Mitch.

He never told Mitch about her either.

He hadn't needed to before. Mitch was different than Cath. Mitch was like him. She was his friend, his co-worker now. She was- He was close to her in a way he wasn't with Catherine. Mitch knew what was going on in his head more often than not. She knew what was going on with his father's death and his last investigation. She knew how he was dealing even if they only seldom talked about it. She was a confidant and a teammate. She was inside his head.

Cath was familiar. She was an old friend, an old flame. She was stress relief and a bit of normal in his crime-show of a life. He cared about her and he knew she cared about him too, but they were distant friends if devoted ones.

He couldn't have both, at least not as they were now.

He wasn't oblivious. He knew Mitch and he had _something_. He knew her living in his house meant more than, _was_ more than the pretense of ease and simplicity that he'd made it out to be: " _no rent, just chip in with house expenses… livable roommate, no apartment searching... c'mon Mitch."_

She knew it too.

He was a little apprehensive about bringing it up though. He didn't want to spook her. She was tough as nails on the outside, ruthless when she had to be, but her heart was big, and if he was honest, a little fragile too. She was quick to react when she felt she might be hurt, quick to run. He didn't want her to go.

So he didn't pick up the phone when Catherine called him last night because he'd been sitting on the couch with Mitch. Her newly painted sparkly pink toed feet were propped up in his lap and it had seemed perfect in the moment. She tossed freshly popped popcorn at him from the bowl in her lap and laughed when he caught it in his mouth. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark played on the TV.

Halfway through Temple of Doom, she fell asleep. Her legs tossed across his lap, the smooth skin warm under his hands as her head fell back against the couch, eyelids fluttering closed. He hadn't noticed until she began to snore softly. It was actually kind of cute.

He lifted her legs carefully, pausing slightly when she made a displeased sound, but she didn't wake. "Mitch?" he whispered softly, but she didn't respond.

The couch was comfortable for sitting and long movie nights, but she'd get a crick in her neck for sleeping like that too long, so he made the executive decision to carry her up to bed. Slipping one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, he leaned her against his chest and lifted her up. She was heavier than she looked, but not a problem to hold. In her sleep, she clutched onto his t-shirt, her breath fanning against his neck.

On-screen, a snake made Winnie, Indiana Jones's blonde love-interest, scream, and Mitch started awake, legs moving and suddenly pushing away from him in surprise.

"Hey! Hey! It's me," he called, trying to keep from dropping her.

She breathed, her body releasing its tension as she relaxed against him, holding onto him instead of pushing away. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked, sleepily.

"You fell asleep," he said, "I was taking you to bed."

"Mmm," she hummed, yawning. "Proceed." He shook his head as she rested her head against him, headed for the small flight of stairs. "Aren't I heavy?" she asked after a moment, narrowing her eyes at him.

He smirked. "Nope."

She frowned for a moment, fairly certain she weighed in at a good 160lbs-170lbs and then in her tired state of mind remembered Steve had carried far heavier weights, namely full grown men, much larger distances, with a lot more haste, so she only nodded and dozed, until she felt him lower her onto the fluffy mattress in the guest room her things were piled in and tuck her feet under the blanket.

His hand brushed heavily over her head, placing some flyaway hair behind her ear. He paused. She waited for him to move, to do something, she wasn't sure what.

He leaned over her, then stopped himself. He'd been going for a kiss on the forehead, but he stopped himself. He shook his head, shocked slightly, by his own forwardness. He didn't know what he wanted. His last serious girlfriend was Cath and that had long since simmered out into a couple burning embers— now more of an FWB situation than anything else, at least on his end. He didn't even know if he _wanted_ a relationship. Especially-

His breath hitched.

He left the room.

Curious, her eyes blinked open just long enough to see him leave. Something sank in her chest, something like disappointment. Pushing the feeling away, scoffing at herself, she pulled the blanket tighter around herself and burrowed into the bed, closing her eyes.

His phone woke him.

If he'd picked it up last night, if he'd gone out with Catherine, if he'd bought her those beers he owed her, watched that flawless smile spread across her face and the dark look in her eyes — _and if Mitch wasn't here_ , he thought— Catherine would be here now, in his house, in his bed, in his arms, all smooth skin and that dark silky hair.

But she wasn't and he had a case.

So he got up and pulled on his pants. As he walked into the kitchen, pulling his dark collared shirt over his head, a steaming mug of coffee prepped with the proper amount of cream and sugar clinked against the counter in front of him.

Mitch winked, drawing three english muffins from the toaster, and plopping a bit of sausage and a cheesy egg on each. "Breakfast is served," she announced with a small yawn, sliding two of them over to him. Then shook her head and smiled, "Eat quick," she said, "We gotta go. I assume the Governor called you too?"

He nodded, eyes drifting from the breakfast sandwich and coffee to the cooling kettle on the stove and over to Mitch. She was wearing jeans today and a smart looking low cut sleeveless blouse, her long hair drawn back into a high ponytail, only her bangs and a few hairs on the side falling free. Her feet were bare against the cold tile flooring.

"Honestly, I was kinda surprised," she mused, "I didn't think Jameson was really all that thrilled I was a part of the team."

She wasn't wrong. The Governor, _had_ fought him on her employment. She hadn't wanted someone whose records were so empty, whose files were all classified. He'd fought for Mitch, fought to have the Army Vet, Spec Ops/Black Ops Soldier, FBI Agent on his team. She had experience, contacts, information, he told the Governor, that was invaluable.

She noticed him staring at her as she bit into her egg sandwich. "What?" she asked, her eyes wide and mouth full. It sounded more like 'wot?'

He smiled, shaking his head. He wouldn't trade this, wouldn't trade her or her casual morning conversation. He wouldn't trade the mess of her things in the living room, strewn about and yet to be picked up. He wouldn't trade the pile of her shoes by the door or her million-ways-to-cook-an-egg, not her perfectly brewed coffee or the late night movies, or the giant pitcher of overly sweet pink lemonade in his fridge.

"Nothing," he smiled. Their eyes met. He wanted all that in his life. He wanted _her_ in his life. The smile that spread over her face was sweet and soft and beautiful.

Something had shifted between them that morning. It was subtle, but it was there, a new level of familiarity, a new level of trust. They smiled when their eyes met and then shook their heads as they met Danny be the entrance to coroner's office.

"Something's different about you two today," Danny said with narrowed eyes. She shook her head, a smile on her face. She tended to find his antics more amusing than anything else. "You get a new haircut?" he asked Mitch.

"Nope," she chirped, popping the 'p'.  
"New cargo pants?" he asked Steve. Mitch laughed and instead of a surly shake of his head, Steve cracked a smile. "What was that?" Danny burst.

"What?" Steve asked, the smile falling instantly into his normal straight-laced look.

"I believe you just smiled. You almost appear to be _happy_ ," the Jersey native all but exclaimed in shock.  
"You don't think I'm a happy person?" Steve asked.

"I'm sure you have your moments, Danny said as Steve held the door open and Mitch passed inside. "Like when Guns and Ammo put out its holiday gift guide," he said, "Or a Rambo retrospective comes on TV."

"He likes Band of Brothers," Mitch offered unhelpfully, laughing at Danny.

"That too!" Danny commented. "But when the Governor calls us down to the M.E.'s office on a Saturday, I ask you: What is it you could be so happy about?"

Mitch's good-natured smile fell as Steve stopped in his tracks in realization. "You had Grace this weekend?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "I just dropped her back off at Rachel's. Just to recap: I've got a broken knee, I got a daughter I barely get to see, and now I work on Saturdays, okay?" he said, "So life's grand, you know what I mean?"

Mitch patted his shoulder gently as the Governor approached in a grey skirt suit. Her shiny black heels clicked against the floor as she walked. "Gentlemen, Michelle," she greeted cordially, "Thank you for coming."  
"Governor," Steve nodded in kind.  
"An 18-year-old girl's body was found off Waikiki this morning," she informed them.

"That's H.P.D.'s jurisdiction," Steve said as both Danny and Mitch narrowed their eyes.  
"Not this time," she said, motioning for them to follow her down the hall.

"Um, what the hell?" Mitch said as the men exchanged a glance— a piano was being played loudly and skillfully just ahead of them.  
The Governor looked at her. "Oh, that's right," she said, "You haven't met Dr. Bergman yet. Max is a tactile thinker," she explained as they neared the door. "Playing music is part of his process. Some people say he's a savant. I think he's a genius." She stopped outside the door where a short asian man with sleek black hair sitting at a piano sat with his back to them. "Max?" she asked, but there was no answer. "Trust me," she told them.  
"Edematous airways," he said after finishing his song. He was a young asian man with a cute round face, messy black hair, and round black-framed glasses sitting at the bridge of his nose.  
"What did he say?" Steve asked her. She shrugged, having no more information than he.

"Nice to meet you too," Danny muttered.  
"The victim exhibited pulmonary edema petechial hemorrhaging and froth in the airways," Max said as he stood from the piano and walked over to the table where the 18-year-old female victim was laid out on, a sheet covering her body. He quickly pulled on a pair of white latex gloves. "Cause of death is definitely drowning." He pulled the sheet away from her face.  
The Governor breathed out loudly. "Does that mean we're not dealing with a homicide?" she asked.

"No," he said, "it doesn't mean we're not dealing with a homicide." Mitch's eyes narrowed as she tilted her head at the doctor. He was about her height. "Sorry. That was a double negative," he said, "It means it still could be a homicide. See these linear contusions on her wrists?" he pulled the sheet back from her arms to reveal the purple bruising all around her wrists. "They're ante-mortem."  
"Ligature marks," Steve said.  
"She was restrained," Danny added.

"That's right," Max nodded.

"Defensive wounds?" Mitch asked him.

"Indeed," Max answered her with a small almost approving nod in her direction.

"So she put up a fight," Steve said.  
"Yes," he said clearly, then he paused. "Also hello," he looked up at them, eyes panning from Mitch, to Steve and then Danny. "I am Max Bergman."  
"Hello, Max," Danny said after a moment.  
"Yeah, Hi, Max." Steve said.

Then he looked at Mitch. "Uh, Hi," she said strangely and then turned to the Governor. "Do we have an ID of the victim?" she asked.

"Her name is Amanda Reeves," the older woman said, looking down at the girl and then quickly away. "Her father is Michael Reeves, the US ambassador to the Philippines and a very old friend. Which is why I promised I'd put my best people on it."

Max covered the body.  
"Okay. Uh, what are they doing in Hawaii?" Steve asked.

"They vacation here every year," she said distractedly.  
"Governor?" her small dark-haired assistant interrupted briefly, handing her an envelope.

"Thanks. Um," she sighed and looked back at her task force. "The girls went to a movie last night, but they never made it home."  
"I'm sorry. You said, girls?" Danny interrupted. "As in more than one?"

"Oh. Sorry," Governor Jameson apologized. "Amanda's sister, Robin, is still missing. Coast Guard sent out divers this morning, but there's no sign of her."  
"So Robin Reeves may still be alive," Steve inferred.


	31. Nalowale Part 2

EPISODE 5 "Nalowale" (Forgotten/Missing)

Part 2

* * *

"I always wanted Amanda and Robin to have a normal upbringing," the girl's father, Ambassador Michael Reeves said, tissue in hand as his wife sat, teary-eyed beside him. "But it hasn't been easy."

"So they were stationed with you at the embassy in Manila?" Mitch asked perhaps not as gently as she could have.

"Yeah, for the last two years," he said. "Before that it was Budapest. Keeping the family together has always been important to us."

"Of course growing up in foreign countries with a security detail shadowing your every move is not exactly an ideal childhood," his wife, their girls' mother interjected.

"Did they by chance have a detail with them when they went out last night?" Danny asked.

"In Philippines, it's one thing," the grey-haired man said, "but we've been coming to Hawaii since the girls were little. I just didn't think it was necessary."

"They were just going to the movies," their mother cried

"Don't blame yourself," Governor Jameson said, reaching over to hold her hand tightly. "We're going to find Robin. We are," she said.

 _Don't say it_ , Mitch thought, her lips pressing into a thin scowl.

"We are," Jameson assured the other teary-eyed mother.

 _Don't say it._

"I promise."

 _Dammit._

"It's possible your daughters were targeted because of your ambassadorship," Steve said professionally. "Did you make any enemies during your time abroad?"

"I'm a representative of United States in an unstable region of the world," the ambassador stated unsurely, "It comes with the territory."

"How about in the Philippines itself?" Danny asked.

"The U.S. gives a lot of aid to that country," he said. "Most of the population is grateful for our assistance…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, but not everyone appreciates the help. I mean there's always radical elements who resent our presence," Steve said.

"Michael, did any of them ever threaten you?" the Governor asked.

"Our office receives dozens of threats. The Bureau keeps all of that on file," He said.

"Mrs. Reeves, you were a founding partner in Sowersby Financial," Danny said, switching gears, "Is it true that you recently sold your stake in that company?"

"Yes, but how is that relevant?" she said, bewildered.

"Well, because you cashed out of Sowersby for over 12 million dollars," Mitch said frankly to the other woman. Danny shook his head at her deadpan tone and unaffected facial expression. "If we have that information, it's safe to assume that other people do too."

"What?" she asked, eyes wide and looking mildly offended by Michelle's tone. "Are you saying Amanda's dead because I have money?"

"I'm sorry. Ma'am, these high profile cases are usually about money," Danny said gently, casting a mildly scolding look at his partner. Mitch only shrugged smally, eyebrows raising slightly.

"Then how come there hasn't been a ransom demand?" the ambassador asked.

Danny paused looking at Steve and Michelle. "I don't know."

* * *

"Hey," Steve greeted, walking into HQ with Michelle and Danny flanking him, the two of them arguing about her 'bedside manner'. Apparently, she was less than compassionate. Danny actually used the word cold, which was a sure fire way to set her off.

"I'm compassionate!" she said.

"And about as subtle as a brick house," Danny shot back at her.

She scoffed at him, brows furrowing and her jaw clenching. "Her daughter's been abducted. There's no time for tiptoeing around her precious _feelings._ We're not here to coddle her. We're here to find her daughter," she said firmyl, "and considering the amount of time that's already passed-"

"See!" Danny interrupted, pointing at her as if she had just proven his point. "You can't just crush her hopes-"

"Its reality," she shot back. "Better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed," she said, sounding every bit the pessimist she protested she wasn't.

Kono and Chin raised their eyes at the argument going on between the two northeasterners behind Steve. The Navy SEAL sighed as Danny came back at Mitch again. He told her families needed hope, support, not cold facts and statistics. She rolled her eyes at him, not like that he seemed to think he could tell her what to do. "I don't need a training course on being 'nice' Danny," she snapped.

"Oh! Oh, really? Because from where I'm standing-"

"Hey!" Steve barked, turning around. Both mainlanders fixed their pissy and pinched, narrowed eyed looks on him instead, though neither said a word. They glared at one another once more before gathering around with the others. Steve shook his head and turned to the computer. "Chin?" he prompted.

"Checked with State," the former H.P.D. officer said. "No credible threats against the ambassador in last three months."

"Okay, so, This doesn't add up," Kono said, one hand on her hip. "Why kill one girl and keep the other one alive?"

"If it's a ransom attempt it could be to show they mean business," Steve proposed with eyes on the monitor.

"H.P. a unit at the house," Chin pointed out. "Still no ransom calls."

"So we got no motive," Danny said.

"All right," Mitch said, no longer looking as scarily angry, "So we go it a different way- Focus on _how_ the girls were abducted." She almost smiled, looking down as she said, "Over 70 percent of kidnappings are out by people the victims already knew." For a moment, she missed Reid and the BAU, missed his endless statistics and the never-ending factoids, Morgan's teasing, Penelope's jokes, and Hotch's stupid straight face. A job where being prepared for the worst was a necessity. Yet still, everything was always so much worse than she could think to prepare herself for. "Maybe it was the same for the Reeves girls"

"We ran a background check on the ambassador's staff," Kono told her. "Everyone seems clean."

"What about the new guy?" Chin suggested. "The security consultant, Russell Ellison?"

Kono shook her head. "His story checks out. Ambassador just flew him in from the mainland. And his plane touched down after the girls were abducted."

Steve's phone rang, the beeping incredibly annoying. "McGarrett," he answered. His eyes narrowed at whatever the other person had said. "On our way."

"And that was?" Mitch prompted.

"Max. Let's go," he told her.

"Jersey," she said in place of actually telling him to come along. Her tone was clipped and meant to annoy him. Danny sighed, shaking his head and following after them at a slower, cane-assisted pace.

* * *

"Just got back the toxicology report," Max said when they stood in his lab. "The victim had a benzodiazepine in her blood. You may be more familiar with its street name. "Roofies."

"That's a date-rape drug," Danny said.

Mitch's eyes narrowed. "Not that often a girl gets a roofied at the movies," she said.

"You could have told us this on the phone," Steve told the doctor.

Max looked distinctly confused as he looked up at the Navy SEAL. "I don't trust phones," he said simply. Mitch blinked at him as the two men exchanged an equally confused look.

"Okay," Danny said. "Kono said that the daughters had a reputation for being party girls. Do you have a black light?"

"Oh, it's called an ALS Wand," Max informed them with a strange little twist to his lips. "And I don't like people touching my equipment."

"Can I just have the wand, please?" Danny pushed after an awkward moment.

"Fine." Max pouted and handed over the wand.

Danny found a club's 'invisible ink' stamp on the inside of her wrist— a circle with the letter z inside.

"Zephyr Lounge," Steve found back at HQ, using the briefing room. "It's a nightclub. Just sent us a link to remotely access their closed circuit feeds."

"That's very good," Danny said, holding his cane over his shoulders and resting his hands on the ends. "It's impressive. Did you learn that in SEAL school?"

Mitch quirked her head at him as if to say 'are you serious?' Steve stood up and looked at her. She only shrugged as he said to Danny, "Yeah, it's called using the internet. People have been doing it since early 90's."

"I wouldn't know," he shrugged. "I was still playing man."

"Oh, yeah?" Steve said. She felt a challenge coming on.

"Yeah"

"Ever make it to the double pretzel level?" he asked.

Danny looked at him with something akin to superiority. "Triple banana, bitch."

"You're a liar," Steve said bending over the computer once again.

"No, I'm not."

"You're both nerds," Mitch interrupted, sitting on the corner of the table as she looked up at the monitor. "Give me last night's front door. Start at midnight and roll backwards."

She and Danny watched the screen closely as Steve played the feed. "Right there, right there," Danny announced loudly. Steve rolled back the tape a few minutes. "Ho, ho. Okay. Now roll forward." Steve did.

"There," Mitch said and pointed at a fuzzy group of people, seeing exactly what Danny had.

"Zoom right here," Danny directed Steve. "Huh? What's that look like to you?" he said as the image of the ambassador's daughters, arms linked to either side of a young dark-haired man with a strange facial expression in a plaid shirt.

"Like two blond victims and a creepy guy," Steve said. Mitch sighed.

"Got him," Danny said.

"Gimme a minute to change," Mitch muttered. The club was their next stop and she wouldn't blend in while wearing her current outfit, not as the boys would.

"Wha-" Danny began, eyebrows drawing together in momentary confusion. He had begun to cool down from their earlier spat. "You look fine!"

"Not for clubbing," she said dryly as she left the room.

"Five minutes," Steve called after her.

"Bite me, McGarrett!"

Even outside the club they could hear the music playing.

Danny hadn't expected Mitch to be stowing a short shimmery spaghetti-strapped black dress and a pair of sturdy sleek black heels in her office but she apparently did. She pulled her hair up into a sleek high ponytail and did her makeup in the car and honestly Danny was impressed with the outcome of her ten-minute makeover. Mitch had gone from her normal pretty and strong, somewhat intimidating appearance to looking somewhat scary and hot as all hell with naught but bit of makeup, a brush, and a stowed away dress, while packing her credentials, badge and guns in a black bag with a long thin strap.

The bouncer didn't even bother to check her name. He looked her over once, she quirked her eyebrow at him, pursed her painted lips and he let her in. He watched a muscle jump in Steve's jaw the bouncer turned to stare at her backside as she walked in.

"You boys on the list?" he said when he turned back.

"Yeah VIP," Danny quipped and showed him his badge.

"You know this guy?" Steve asked curtly and showed the bouncer a picture of their guy.

"Yup. He's inside."

"You made it," Mitch smirked as they approached, leaning against the bar. "I ordered Longboards," she told them over the music.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, "Breaking for beers? Huh?"

"This guy's abducted two girls, already," Mitch said, having gotten over their fight as well. She pushed one beer towards him when the bartender laid them down. "His radar'll be up. If he sees us 'fore we see him he's gonna bolt."

"So drink up," Steve grinned at Danny. "We'll get eyes on the place and relax," Steve said, reaching behind Mitch to grab one of the beers.

"Looks like this place has got eyes on you," Danny said, looking over to a blonde in a red dress and a brunette in a blue one, both making eyes at Steve. Mitch straightened, looking at them briefly. They were shorter than her, wearing tight dresses that fit their thin bodies well. The blonde's eyes widened when she met Michelle's eyes and nudged her shorter dark-haired friend hurriedly. Mitch smirked into her beer as the two women ran off.

"Just focus, please," Steve told his partner. "Just once, focus."

"Wait a minute," Danny interrupted, "Let me ask you a question."

"Go ahead," Steve said.

"Two very attractive ladies are eye-humping you, respectfully," he added. Mitch snorted and Steve smiled at her. "And- what?" Danny glanced back over, but the two women were gone. "Wait, where'd they go?"

Mitch shrugged innocently, taking another sip of her beer.

Steve laughed.

"What did you do?" Danny asked her. "What is that? What is that smile?" he hounded her.

"What smile?" she said, very clearly smirking. She paid him no mind as she pushed away from the bar and over around the corner.

"That stupid smile on your face." He wagged a finger at her and she scoffed. "What is it with you two today?" he asked. "Huh?"

"You're imagining things," Steve said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Oh, I'm imagining things," Danny repeated.

"That's right," Steve nodded.

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute," Danny paused. "Some Detective I am," he said. "You two got into some Barry White last night didn't you?"

Mitch hung back a moment and punched him hard in the shoulder. "No, you asshole," she said shook her head at him, walking past him further into the lounge.

"What," Danny began holding his hands out.

Steve clapped him on the shoulder.. "You're very perceptive," he said sarcastically.

"Why am I the asshole?"

Mitch waved them over, standing by a blue-lit water feature blowing bubbles up a cylindrical thin tank. "Take a look at Casanova over there. 6:00," she said.

"That's our boy," Danny said as Steve grunted his agreement. "Let me tell you what, if that was my daughter," Danny said as the guy played with the girl's dark hair, leaning just a bit too close and looking a bit too friendly, "I would bust every single one of his fingers one at a time."

As he did, he dropped a little white pill into her drink that dissolved almost instantly.

"Time's up, fuckwad," Mitch muttered as Danny said, "Oh, God. Thank you for the excuse."

Mitch reached the pair first, not even bothering to announce or introduce herself, instead taking the martini glass from the girl's hands and laying it neatly on the table. "C'mon girlie, we're gonna have a little chat about bar rules and common sense."

The guy made to get up, beginning to say something that was undoubtedly an insult towards her when Steve and Danny interrupted, the latter pushing him back into his seat on the sofa. "Dude, who do you think you are?

"Number one," Mitch told the wide-eyed girl, "You do not take drinks from strange men. Number Two, you do not let your drink out of your sight. You put it down, you get a new one, okay? It's dead to you. Number Three," Mitch shook her head, looking at the fresh-faced girl and her thick makeup, hot pink dress and heels. "You barely look old enough to be in here. Find your buddy and go home."

Startled and afraid the girl stuttered out a strange and bewildered thank you before impulsively hugging Mitch and then running off as fast as she could in her tall pink heels.

"What's that?" Steve said, his voice deep looking down at the shifty dark haired boy. "Who do I think I am? I think I might be a guy who saw another guy put something in a lady's drink."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he denied, leaning back, arms up on the edge of the seat. "I didn't put anything in the drink."

Mitch snorted, shaking her head, but before she could interrupt, Danny who had taken a seat a little too close to their suspect said angrily, "You didn't put anything in? Then drink it."

She jumped right on board that train, watching as the color drained from the guy's already pale face and he said, "What?"

"Drink it," she said slowly and clearly. The way his eyes flicked to her, trailing slowly up from the toes of her pretty black shoes, up her legs, and the length of her dress was both insulting and creepy. Clearly, he had no respect for women.

He never got to her face, Danny had already hooked his arm around the guy's neck and pulled him downward, growling, "Come here. Drink." The guy looked away so Danny slapped him, "Listen to me. Drink that drink or I'll bust your teeth and pour it down your throat, okay?"

"I would drink it," Steve said, pushing the glass towards him.

Hesitantly, the picked up the glass, looking between Danny and Steve. Neither gave any indication that they would let him get away without downing that drink to he put it to his lips. There was no mercy in Michelle's expression either.

"Come on. Lemme help you," Steve said, tipping the glass back further to force him to drink or have it spill all over his face and fancy fake silk shirt. "One sip." He drank. "Down the hatch. There you go. Big swallow, big swallow. Good job." Steve patted him harshly on the back as he put the drink down.

"Okay, let's go, lover-boy," he slapped him, dragging him up by his shoulder and out of the lounge.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry about the delayed updates. I have the rest of this episode written up and I'm working on the next, I promise. I'm in college so classwork had me busy most days and when I'm not... I'm tired and I want to nap, lol. I'll have time to update/write in a couple of weeks so thing should pick back up then when I'm at home. Thank you to everyone who's stayed with me through this and to those of you who have been leaving reviews; You're absolutely amazing and you positively make my day._

 _Thanks again!_

 _Love your friendly neighborhood part-time writer,_

 _CopperMax_


	32. Nalowale Part 3

EPISODE 5 "Nalowale" (Forgotten/Missing)

Part 3

* * *

Mitch ditched the dress in favor of a green button up and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Neither Danny nor Steve commented on the look of satisfaction on her face when she blew that air horn in his ear, shouting the name of the girl they needed to find, "Robin Reeves," to wake him from his roofie-induced sleep. "What'd you do with her?" she asked, completely ignoring the way he'd fallen off his chair.

"What?" He looked up at her, sweaty and gross.

"Great. Now he's deaf," Danny said offhandedly. She ignored him.

"Where is she? Where is Robin Reeves?" Steve said loudly.

"Here's your rap sheet here," Danny said, reading from the paper, "You got credit card fraud. Corruption of a minor. Statutory rape. And now you graduated to murder. Congratulations."

"Murder?" he repeated incredulously.

"Yeah."

"What are you talking about?" he said.

"Well, we found Amanda Reeves's body this morning," Mitch said. The look she fixed him with was scary in its own right, but there was a ferocity, a hate behind her eyes her partners weren't familiar with. She didn't take kindly to rapists or child murderers. There was a special bout of anger in her especially for them. Another reason to leave the BAU, she'd known.

"I didn't kill that girl," the lanky criminal looked at her. His eyes were wide and afraid, but she didn't let up. The deep scowl on her face never wavered.

"No?" Danny said, slowly drawing his attention away from Mitch. "Well, you better know who did then."

He didn't answer so Mitch kicked him in the side, blasting the air horn in his ear again, her eyes blazing angrily. "Talk."

"Okay. Okay," he gasped. "I did slip those girls a roofie last night."

"Why those girls?" Steve pressed. "Why'd you pick them?"

"I was just doing what I was told," he insisted. "But they were alive when I handed them off to Kang," he blurted out.

"Who's Kang?" Mitch asked.

"The one who set me up with the job," He said, looking at her with a bit of fear, something that hadn't been there earlier. "Said he'd give me five grand for every girl I brought him."

"What does he do with the girls?" Mitch seethed.

"I get paid to supply the girls, not to ask questions."

Something not unlike a growl of frustration escaped her lips. Danny spoke over it. "Okay. So how do we find Kang?"

"I don't know," he shook his head. "Honestly he never even told me his last name. I don't even know his phone number."

"Then how do you deliver the girls to Kang?" Steve said loudly, leaning towards him. "How does that happen?" he pressed.

"He leaves a van parked in one of the lots."

"Okay. Go on," Danny said. He was unsure of how he had become the calm one in the room, but it was becoming steadily clearer that neither Mitch nor Steve could be trusted alone with the piece of shit excuse for a human being. He didn't doubt their willingness to rid the world of him.

"I put the girls in the back," he explained, oblivious to the near snarl on Michelle's lips. "Take the van to Ala Wai and park it by the canal. The next day it's back in the parking lot with five grand in the glove box and instructions for the next drop-off."

"That girl you were gonna drug tonight, was she your next delivery?" Danny asked.

"Yeah."

"Yes. Hmm?"

"I was supposed to get her there by 1:00," he said.

"That's less than an hour," Steve said.

Groaning in frustration, Mitch blasted the air horn in the guy's face again before storming out of the interrogation room.

* * *

"It's your turn. Remember?" Kono said, trying to make the slightly older woman smile as she curled her hair for her. Mitch was back in the shimmery black dress, sporting a new pair of silver high heels, more make-up, an earpiece and an arm full of silver bangles.

"Should she be going undercover for this?" Danny asked Steve concernedly. Mitch had been unbelievably pissed in that interrogation room. She worried him a little. She had an explosive temper and she was not one to be pushed around. This case was hitting her hard, making her all sorts of angry and, well, it scared him a little when she was like that. She didn't think, she reacted. She was at her best with a clear head and a game plan.

"She's got this," Steve said as they waited outside the girl's room for Kono and Mitch to emerge. "Nothing she hasn't done before." That did not make Danny feel better. Nor, he thought, did it look like Steve was okay with this plan either. His jaw was clenched tightly, fists closed except for when he took a moment to chew on his thumbnail.

Danny rolled his eyes. "I hate this plan."

When Mitch excited that room, nearing six foot in a new pair of tall tall heels and looking like a million bucks in that shimmery black dress, now with her hair curled and her makeup more skillfully applied, Danny only felt more worried. Steve's eyes stuck on her.

"Ready?"

She nodded, rolling her head on her shoulders until her neck cracked. "Let's do it," she said strongly, walking out of the building.

* * *

She climbed in the back of the van, lying down— for all intents and purposes, dead to the world. Steve spoke to her as they waited. Dumb stuff, easy, comfortable, unimportant things, to keep her from feeling alone as they waited. Honestly, it would have been nice conversation if she wasn't lying face down in the back of a creepy van waiting to be 'abducted'.

Then, he said, "Michelle, I've got your back, okay?"

She heard the door open, felt the van shift as someone got in.

"Hang tight," she heard Chin say. "We'll be right behind you."

She felt the van stop, felt the jiggle of the floor as he got out, then heard the van door open in front of her. He grabbed her by the arms, hoisting her to her feet as he pulled her out of the van.

She shifted her weight, acted a little drunk and tipsy, a little off balance and spacey. "What happened to the music?" she asked him softly, eyelids fluttering.

"Party's inside," he grunted, "Let's go. Come on. Use your legs."

He pushed her up a couple of stairs, one hand on her arm, around her forearm, her army tattoo covered in a thick, though an indecipherable layer of cover-up stuck on there with a hefty amount of setting spray. At the door, another man pulled her inside. One on either side of her, their hands gripping her arms just above the elbow, they lead her down the hall.

"Mitch, try and get a 20 on Robin," Chin told her.

She discreetly looked around as she walked slowly and waveringly down the hall. Two men lounged on furniture in one room, their eyes following her down the halls. There were four girls in another room, looking tired and used, with dark sunken eyes, sitting up on mattresses laid on the floor.

"Got some fresh meat here," she heard one man shout with a crackling laugh.

"Okay," she heard Steve prep the police team. "Close quarters with an unknown number of hostiles. Robin Reeves is not the only girl in there so watch your crossfire, okay? We also have a UC in there. Black dress, brown hair, sparkly heels— She's one of ours. So look sharp."

"Ms. Liao," the man on her left greeted, then said something in Chinese she couldn't understand. The older woman was sitting in a wooden chair, a light colored pomeranian in her hands. The men stopped, holding her still as the older woman stood. She was short, only reaching the bottom of Mitch's chin, with long manicured acrylic nails.

"Excellent skin," the woman appraised, brushing her fingers down Mitch's cheeks, "Hmm. Bone structure's very good." Her hand traveled downward, her fingers grasping her shoulder and then her left bicep, traveling down the length of her arm. "Strong too," she said, "but these tattoos," the woman's tongue made a strange clicking sound against the room of her mouth as she touched the colorful band of flowers that encircled Mitch's left bicep. "Still," she said, "you will be a good earner."

"All right. I've heard enough," she heard Chin say.

The woman looked up into Mitch's dark eyes and smiled before turning away, speaking to the men in Chinese.

"Hold tight we're coming in," Steve said to her.

They tossed her to the ground in a room across the hall. Mitch landed on her hands and knees, shaking it off and getting the hair out of her face. The men turned when they heard shots fired. A woman screamed. Mitch took the opportunity to grab the gun from the man with his back to her. She shot him in the calve and pointed the weapon at the other, who hadn't had the time to grab his own weapon. "On the ground, 'fore I decide to shoot you too, asshole."

He was on the ground and surrendered when she Steve snuck up the hall, gun in hand and tactical vest on his chest. She nodded at him, he nodded back, lending her his cuffs as Chin approached.

"Building's secure," he said.

"Where's Robin?" Steve asked.

"She's not here."

"Robin Reeves, where is she?" Steve laid the picture on the table in front of Ms. Liao.

She didn't even glance at the pictures, brushing her fingers over the tiny dogs hair and scoffing. "I never see that girl."

"Well, seeing as you're not even bothering to look, maybe you'll remember that she was with her sister, Amanda," Chin said. "And maybe you'll want to know that she's dead now."

"I want you to read my Miranda right now," she pointed one long manicured finger at Chin and, tilted her chin up haughtily. "Preferably in Chinese. My English not so good."  
Mitch exhaled through her nose and smiled tightly in a fashion Steve knew never meant good things. She stepped beside the woman and tore the small fluffy dog from her hands. "What you doing? What you doing?" the woman cried.

She held the tiny happy little fluffy thing with one hand to her chest and slapped the woman's reaching hands away from her, pushing her back down into her chair as she snarled. "Sit down."

"Give me-"

"Shut up," she snapped, the other woman frowning, her eyes on the small thing Steve wasn't rightly sure could be called a dog. "Give me a minute?" Michelle's eyes met Steve's.

"Yeah. Sure," he said, glancing down at the small Chinese woman once and then back up towards Mitch, towering over her with those heels adding to her height and the dark makeup making her stony expression seem all the more severe.

* * *

"She ordered the kidnapping of the Reeves sisters," Mitch said, the rat-dog under her arm as she exited the building after the policeman escorting Ms. Liao. "It wasn't for the prostitution ring."

"She tell you where Robin is?" Chin asked.

"Mitch!" Kono shouted, smiling at her semi-hugging her friend after stepped around Chin Ho. Mitch smiled smally, assured the other woman she was fine and discreetly handed off the dog, allowing Kono to hug the fluffy little creature as she spoke

"She doesn't know. According to her the Reeves girls never even passed through here," she said, " A private buyer paid her 50,000 to abduct them and hand them over. She said the kidnapping was a freelance job."

"So it had nothing to do with sex trade," Steve said, "Someone was targeting them specifically."

Mitch nodded.

"You get a name on a buyer?" Chins said.

Mitch handed him the small piece of paper she got Liao to write the number of her contact on. "That was the phone number to communicate with the guy," she said. "Liao said she was paid by wire."

"This will help," Chin said. Mitch only shrugged.

"How'd you get her to talk?" Kono asked, holding the dog close to her chest as it looked at her with big brown eyes.

"Told her the dog would be put down when she went to lock up," Mitch gestured to the dog Kono held. "Said I'd find him a home if she cooperated."  
Steve stared at her.

"What?" she asked. "Did you not see the way she held that little rat-dog? Obviously cared about it more than any human person." He shook his head, Chin following him with an equally lost expression until it was only Mitch and Kono. "It's not like it's the dog's fault," she muttered as the little dog stuck its tongue out in an attempt to lick her.

Kono laughed at the tiny smile on the other woman's face as she petted its tiny head.

* * *

 _A/N: Well... I didn't get any reviews last chapter aside from the one that told me I accidentally posted the wrong chapter at first. Thanks by the way! So hopefully this one does a bit better. Let me know what you think!_


	33. Nalowale Part 4

EPISODE 5 "Nalowale" (Forgotten/Missing)

Part 4

* * *

"I ran the phone on our private buyer," Chin said once they were all back at HQ. He's pulled the phone record up on the monitors. "Turns out calls are made from a disposable cell."

"Which is untraceable," Mitch said unhappily, raising one hand as she spoke, the other finding a home in the pocket of her thin sweatshirt, the sleeves pushed up to her elbows.

"That's right," Chin said, "But I was able to pull the call logs and get this: since the Reeves sisters went missing three calls were placed from that cell to ambassador's private number," he told them.

"So you think he's involved in his own daughters' disappearance?" Kono asked.

"No," Steve said, looking at the records. "No. This is a kidnap and ransom."

"Yeah," Danny said from his seat, "They're calling the ambassador to make demands."

"That's why he brought Ellison in after the girls went missing," Mitch shook her head. "Dammit, this fucks everything up," she added, softer this time.

"Ellison," Chin said, using finger quotes as he said, "Security consultant."

" _Soooo_ not a security consultant," Mitch said as Steve spoke, "I will bet you, not a security consultant. The guy's a K and R specialist."

"What's K and R?" Kono asked.

"Kidnap and Ransom," they all answered.

"It's a type of insurance," Steve said.

"A shitty and stupid-ass insurance," Mitch interjected.

"Look," he continued, "if a policyholder gets abducted, the company comes in, they pay the ransom and they supervise the exchange with the kidnappers."

"And these guys have got a tendency to obstruct police investigations," Danny added.

"More like an obligation," Mitch said. "You wouldn't believe how many of these guys there are."

"So if Ellison is handling the drop," Steve said, "that explains why the ambassador lied to us."

"So let's go pay him a visit," Mitch said.

* * *

"Is your husband home?" Steve said as they walked into the Reeves's home. "We need to have a word."

"No," Ms. Reeves said, the Governor sitting beside her. "He had to step out for a meeting."

"With?" Mitch pressed.

Ms. Reeves stopped, going still for a moment before she stuttered. "I- I don't know."

"What's going on?" Governor Jameson asked, looking mildly affronted.

"Mrs. Reeves," Steve said, looking away from the Governor. "We know that the kidnappers have been in communication with your husband."

"He hired Russell Ellison to broker the deal," Danny finished, "Isn't that right?"

Mrs. Reeves looked away from them, burying her face in her hands as the Governor jumped up beside her. "Sarah. Sarah," Jameson urged, "If you know something you have to tell them."

"I'm so sorry I lied to you," she said, her eyes watering. _They always are,_ Mith thought uncharitably, then shook her head of the thought. Sarah Reeves took a shuddering breath and said, "The last call came an hour ago. The man on the other end said that if we pay money we'd get Robin back."

"So your husband and Ellison have gone to pay the ransom?" Mitch said.

"Please," the woman said, a tear making its way down her cheek, "Please, I just want my daughter back. As soon as the kidnappers made contact Michael called. He flew in with money and he monitored all calls," Sarah explained. "He told Michael exactly what to do and say."

"Did your husband say where the transaction was taking place?" Steve asked.

"No, no," she shook her head. "Mr. Ellison wouldn't let him give me any details."

"Did Ellison ask you to lie?" Mitch asked seriously, itching for an excuse to book this guy as well as the kidnappers. He'd made everything worse.

"He said involving the police would only put Robin in more danger."

Steve's phone rang, the annoying beeping tone she hated. "Excuse me," he said, stepping away. "Yeah?"

"I traced the money trail for that private buyer who paid for the abduction of the Reeves sisters," Kono said over the phone. "Payment was wired from a bank in the Philippines."

"The account belongs to a Carlos Bagoyo," Chin added. "Known member of the National Liberation Front. Operational in rural Luzon. They bombed the military base there in '08. Lately, they've taken to targeting U.S. troops within the country."

"Of course they have," Steve said. "Because we support the democratically elected government that keeps them out of power."

"Doesn't sound like they'd be interested in ransom," Chin noted.

"They're not," McGarrett put together. "They didn't kidnap for money. This is political."

"If they're targeting the ambassador," Kono said, her voice soft but serious. "He must have something they want."

"Yeah," Steve shook his head. "And he just dropped his security detail to go meet with them."

* * *

They tracked the ambassador's car to the docks, but he wasn't in it.

"Government plates," Danny said, leaning on his cane. "It's him."

Steve touched the tires and said. "Still warm. Couldn't have gone too far. Ellison probably sent the ambassador in solo to make the swap, but he'll be nearby monitoring with an attack team to make sure it doesn't go bad." As Steve spoke, Danny noticed Mitch pulling out her phone and typing. His eyes narrowed on her as Steve continued, "You know what? I may have a way to figure out where he's running surveillance from."

"Already on that," Mitch wiggled the phone by her ear.

"Mitch!" the woman on the other end screeched.

Mitch made a face, briefly holding it away from her ear. "Hey, Pen. You said you wrapped up that case?"

"Yeah, yeah but that's not the issue. Where _have_ you been?" the computer genius with access to everything burst. "Why haven't you called? It's been forever! How's Hawaii? Any good pictures? How's that hunky Commander-"

"How do you even-" Mitch cut her off and shook her head. "Nevermind. Pen, I need your help," she said.

"Who is that?" Danny asked Steve. He only shrugged in response, just as confused as Danny for once.

"What is it, my Warrior Princess?" Penelope asked.

"Still not sporting a leather corset and chakrams, Pen," Mitch shook her head. "PACOM has a satellite dedicated to Honolulu harbor. Can you use it to run a scan on radio traffic?"

"Of course I can. What am I looking for?"

"Spread spectrum signal in the, what? 400 megahertz range?" she asked Steve. He nodded. "Type used by high-end surveillance gear."

"All right, one sec."

"Thank you, Penelope," Mitch smiled.

"I think I got a hit on your frequency," she said. "I'm tying you in."

"Over-watch on Reeves is good," a man said over the radio. "We're standing by."

"That's our guy," Mitch announced. "Can you get a vector on the signal source?"

"Patience, my love... The west end of the dock," she said. "It's coming from a... shipping container?" she finished sounding confused.

"Shipping container," Mitch repeated. "Thanks, Garcia, You're a goddess."

* * *

"Show me your hands," Ellison shouted, gun raising as they burst into the shipping container.

"Lower your weapon! Right now! Lower your gun!" Steve shouted about him.

"You're gonna get this girl killed," Ellison said.

"We're gonna get this girl killed?" Danny said. "Hey, you obstructed our investigation. Unless your men are ready to shoot a bunch of cops, tell them to holster their weapons now."

"Right now, buddy. Drop them," Steve neared him, forcing the other man to lower his weapon.

"Where's the ambassador?" Mitch demanded.

"He's in position for the drop."

"Pull him out now," she said.

"With all due respect," he said. Her eyes narrowed. In her experience, when someone said "with all due respect" what they really meant was "kiss my ass." His condescending tone also wasn't winning him any brownie points as he looked down at her. "My team specializes in these situations. We want to get Robin home to her family."

"Of course you do," Steve interjected, "because if you don't your firm is on the hook for 6 million, right?"

"The men who kidnapped the ambassador's daughters are part of a Filipino terrorist group," Danny explained.

"Sir, they just arrived," the man at the computer interrupted.

"This is not about cash, gentlemen," Danny said as he, Steve, and Michelle moved into the other men's space, taking over their operation. "They lured him in."

"Look at that," Steve said, not at all surprised. "Robin is not with them."

"Patch me into the ambassador," Ellison told his man. "All right, listen, they're here. I want you to be calm and do exactly as we already discussed."

"You know who I am," a heavy-set though strong-looking man with short dark hair said confidently as he entered the warehouse where the ambassador stood.

"Carlos Bagoyo," Michael Reeves nodded, his voice shaking only slightly. "You're an operative of the NLF. Responsible for the Zamboanga bombings that killed 78 people."

"I see you read your security briefs," Carlos commented wryly.

"Where is she? Where's my daughter?"

"She's nearby," he said. "When we get what we want, we will release her."

"You didn't come all this way for my money, did you?" Michael Reeves quickly put together.

"I'm afraid not, ambassador," Carlos said. "We came for you."

The ambassador hesitated, realizing the situation had changed. "What do you want?"

"Your country sends military aid to the Philippine regime. You put guns in the hands of soldiers who kill our sons and brothers," Carlos paced, his men standing still around him.

"I don't understand," the ambassador said.

"There's a U. of M-4 machine guns on route to Manila. You're going to tell me where they are right now. We're gonna use those to take our country back," Carlos said.

"The hell he is," Mitch muttered, leaning over the computer station as the audio played.

"I don't have that kind of information," the ambassador said.

"As ambassador, you coordinate military aid with the State Department," Carlos stated, "which means you have access to their classified server. Now if you ever want to see your daughter alive again," he drew a gun and pointed it at the ambassador's head, "log in."

"Find out where that shipment is," Steve told his team. "He can send in a team to hijack. We can't let him get to those weapons."

"Tell the perimeter team to gear up," Ellison said.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" Mitch interrupted him, standing up straight to stare at the 'security consultant'.

"We gotta move in," he said, startled by her fierce interruption.

"' _We_ ' don't need to do anything," she told him, craning her neck upward to yell at the man who was taller, even, than Steve. " _You_ ," she emphasized, "need to pull your men out so Steve and I can clean up _your_ mess. Move out." Her lip curled when he didn't immediately move. " _Now_ ," she snarled, "I'm not going to tell you again."

Danny had to admit there was something very satisfying about watching Mitch snarl and yell people into submission.

"Come on," Carlos coerced the ambassador. "Your wife already lost one daughter. Are you prepared to tell her your other child died because you wouldn't do what was asked?"

"Ambassador, this is Commander McGarrett," Steve patched himself through using Ellison's comm. "Stay calm and listen. Tell them that you're willing to cooperate, but first, you need to see your daughter. We cannot move in until we know where she is."

"Fingerprint and password now, ambassador," Carlos told Michael, gesturing to the computer all set up in the corner. "I'm not going to tell you again. Do as I ask you."

"Tell Carlos you're willing to cooperate, but first you need to see Robin," Steve repeated. "Ambassador, do it, please." _C'mon_ , Mitch thought anxiously, _please, just do it_.

"You're asking me to commit treason against my country," the ambassador stated. She held her breathed. "And I will do as you ask. But not until I know she's safe," He said, "I want to see Robin."

"Oh, good boy," she said softly as he did as Steve told him.

Carlos said something to his men in a foreign language, then said to Mr. Reeves. "She's on her way."

"They're bringing Robin," Steve said, "We need to get a visual." He motioned for Danny to sit behind the computer.

"You're kidding me," the Jersey-native remarked.

"No, I'm not," Steve said. "Look. This one controls the camera feed," he touched one button briefly. "The joystick is for pan and zoom. It's just like Pac-man. It's very easy."

"Dork," Mitch coughed, lightning the situation and almost making Danny smile as Chin and Kono came in.

"They're holding the ambassador on Dry Dock number 7," Steve told them.

"And the daughter?" Chin asked.

"Not on sight," Mitch said, "But Bagoyo just agreed to provide proof of life."

"We think he's holding her at a nearby location," Steve said, "As soon as we get eyes on Robin, we can move."

"Okay, we got a boat coming in," Danny told them.

"Got her," Kono said, rushing out of the storage container.

"That's us. We're going," Steve said, clapping Danny on the shoulder. "We're going, Danny."

"Okay," he called after them. "I'll just be here in the penalty box."

* * *

 _A/N: Hey everybody, summer has begun! Thanks to a review from the lovely Bron who reviewed on the last chapter... I've got my butt in motion and started writing again. Lemme know what you think! Reviews are motivation! Thanks for reading! Also... I figured out why I kept posting the wrong chapter. My numbering systems got all effed up but I think its fixed now. Lemme know if I screw up again._


	34. Nalowale Part 5

EPISODE 5 "Nalowale" (Forgotten/Missing)

Part 5

* * *

"Still clear?" Steve asked as they approached the dry dock.

"Yeah, all good."

Ahead, Chin and Kono made their way forward.

"Okay, hold up, hold up," Danny repeated. Steve and Mitch crouch behind two containers on opposite sides so the same row. "You got two at the south entrance. One of them is making the rounds coming your way right now. Close to you Steve, than Mitchy. He's coming up right behind you." he said. "He'll be on you in about ten seconds."

Steve grabbed a lead pipe from below him. Mitch's eyes widened at him. He shrugged and she shook her head in response.

"Wait. Wait for it." Danny paused. "Now."

Steve slammed the pipe into the man's kneecap. It shattered with a sickening crunch, making even Mitch flinch a little bit. "Oh!" they heard Danny shout.

As a unit, they surrounded the dock, the four of them close enough to see the large man raise his gun towards the ambassador and his daughter and say, "That's enough."

"No, no, no," he protested, as he was pulled from his crying teenage daughter. His attempts to reach out for her were aggressively batted away and a gun was raised to her head as she sobbed quietly. "Please," Michael begged them not to hurt her.

"Ambassador, you've seen your daughter," he said. Mitch and Steve lined up similar shots to the man holding the run to the blonde girl's head. "Now, log in." Carlos said, "My patience is wearing thin, ambassador."

He sat behind the computer, closing his eyes for a moment and nodding.

"Do it or she dies."

The warehouse erupted with gunfire as Steve shot the man holding the gun to Robin. Kono shot the man holding the gun to Steve, and Mitch shot the second to last one, his gun moving wildly from target to target while Chin managed to apprehend the last gunmen, firing only one shot.

"Robin?" the ambassador shouted, rushing to his daughter.

No one had shot Carlos, the large man rushing for an exit in the direction Michelle and Steve had come. "Steve!" she shouted, rushing after the man.

"It's okay," Mr. Reeve told his daughter, holding her close.

"You guys okay?" Chin asked them.

"Yeah," the ambassador said as, outside, Mitch tackled the foreigner, slamming him into a green shipping container before they hit the ground. She managed to land on top, but as she reached to bind his arms, he swung his body to the side and slapped her full on with one large meaty hand, knocking her over and to the side, but she recovered quickly.

Both on their feet, she swung her fist at him, but the man blocked it with his body. His own punches were slow and easy to block, giving her the opening to swing fast and hard with her right hand and punch him squarely across the face, effectively knocking him to the ground.

Unfortunately, this also put him within arms reach of a gun.

She jumped kicked out her steel-toed boot, striking his hand and knocking the gun from his grasp. Then she spun around and kicked him in the face instead. He managed to stand kicking weakly at her, but it was easy to move out of the way. She spun away from his outward strikes, slamming her elbow into his shoulder blade and then turning around, blocking his punch and then trapping his arm against her chest as she locked it in place and dropped own to a knee, throwing the man with great effort over her shoulder and slamming him down onto a crate, which broke under his weight.

"Ow," she mumbled to herself, turning as Steve approached. "Got him!" She shouted, pointing at the fallen man with a lopsided grin as she rubbed at her shoulder.

* * *

"Ugh," Mitch groaned, pulling her sunglasses down over her eyes. "Here we go," she said as the dark-skinned and nicely suited 'insurance agent' approached. She smiled tightly and not at all sincerely at Ellison. Danny almost laughed at the expression on her face. She looked like she'd rather drink battery acid than associate with this man.

"You're right," he said to them. "Listen, I'm man enough to know when I'm wrong. Thank you. You all have great instincts. And uh," he fished in his pocket for something, "if you ever consider coming down to the private sector," he held out his card. Danny took it, but when he tried to give one to Mitch she steadfastly pretended she could not see it until he paused mid-speech and turned to hand one to Steve. "Uh, You should give me a call. Men, uh and women," he nodded at the eerily blank-faced women they called Mitch, "with your skill-sets deserve to be compensated."

"Well, thank you very much," Steve said, "I totally agree," walking around the man.

"Oh, what are you doing?" Ellison questioned as Steve pulled out his handcuffs.

"I'm getting compensation," he said. "You obstructed a criminal investigation. That is an arrestable offense."

Ellison faltered. "Uh, You and I both know the charges will never stick."

"Yeah, maybe not," Steve shrugged. "But it's gonna take your firm at least 24 hours to get a lawyer here from Los Angeles. I'm gonna make sure you spend that time in jail."

Steve clapped him on the shoulder as the man looked at Mitch, looking utterly flabbergasted as her blank stare broke and she grinned, clapped theatrically. "Steve," she batted her eyelashes like a movie star damsel, "you're my hero," she teased.

He laughed, ducking his head slightly. "Book him, Danno."

Danny shrugged. "I got to be honest, actually, I didn't mind that one."

"Really?" Steve asked as Mitch reached an elbow up to his shoulder and leaned on him.

"Yeah," Danny nodded, using his cane to poke the larger man in the back. "Move."

Mitch laughed, following after Danny, the first real and bright grin on her face he'd seen on her face all day, excluding when she beat up Carlos Bogoya. Then he spotted the Governor. "You saved a girl's life today," she said as she approached.

"Just doing the job you hired me for," he said.

"Maybe so," she nodded. "But I made a promise to a friend, and you let me keep it, so... Thank you." She nodded, pulling her shaded sunglasses down over her eyes and left.


	35. Authors Note - Houston, we have a prob

Hey all!

We have a problem. Hawaii Five-O has been taken off Netflix, which was my source and now... I don't know how I'm going to write new episodes. Does anyone know if its on Amazon Prime or Hulu? I could get one of those maybe with my school accounts.


	36. Hey Cath

Mitch went out with Kono for drinks.

She asked him about his plans for the night and he said he was going to hang around the house— clean up, watch TV, dig through his dad's things, swim. He told her to go out and have fun. She rolled her eyes and said, "Don't wait up."

As she spoke, her phone lit up. The smiling face of an attractive dark-skinned man with bright eyes popped up on her phone. "Morgan" read the name on her screen.

"Hey Sugar," he heard the man say before she lowered the volume and put the phone to her ear, grinning as she walked out the door. Suddenly, he felt his chest tighten. Suddenly, he was angry. He recognized the name. Morgan was the 'friend' packing her things. Morgan was the friend she told everything to. Morgan wasn't the best friend he originally thought. _Morgan_ was a guy, and _Morgan_ seemed to him like more than a friend— he made her smile too easy, too affectionately, too _something_ and it made him _mad._

It was five minutes after she left that Catherine called and suddenly he wanted nothing more than to see her. They went out for drinks —two, a record low— before they were leaving. He stayed at her apartment.

He could tell she didn't understand why they didn't go back to his place but she didn't ask and she didn't complain. Instead, plastering her lips to his and nudging him back into her bedroom. Catherine was off-land more often than not, on this ship or that one. Her apartment was sparsely decorated and pristinely clean, almost like a hotel.

She was just as beautiful and charming as always and they fit together just as easily as he remembered.

He woke first in the morning. Turning on his side, he watched her. Her dark hair splayed across the pillow behind her, a stark contrast against her pale skin and white sheets. Her eyes were closed as she breathed deeply and evenly, lying on her left side with one hand under the pillow and the other up by her face.

He swallowed, scratching lightly at his chest. He didn't feel the relief that usually came after a night with Cath. He felt almost more tense than the night before. He looked at her, searched for the connection between them that had always been such an easy thing to hold onto. It was still there. He could still see everything that had attracted him to her in the first place— strong figure, pretty face, bright personality, confidence, clear voice, and intelligence.

He paused. She'd be gone again in a weeks time. For once, he'd still be here. He was home now. He was building something here on land. Five-O was quickly becoming more than a job. He was building a life outside of the Navy.

He wasn't sure Catherine would ever want that. Still, when her pretty brown eyes opened, he said with a grin, "Good morning, Lieutenant."

She blinked at him sleepily, then smiled. "Good morning, Commander," she responded in kind, inching closer to lean over him and pressing her soft lips against his. Then she pulled back, looking at him strangely. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. Nothing," he said, one hand brushing over her side.

She didn't look like she believed him but she didn't push. She never pushed.

"You know I think I owe you dinner," he said, wondering why it didn't feel like the right thing to do. He felt hesitant. He never felt hesitant, least of all about Catherine.

"Yeah, somehow we just never quite make it to dinner," she smiled, leaning against him.

"We had dinner in Coronado," he said.

"No," she pointed out, "We had reservations."

He smiled but said nothing further.

"You know, we both have the day off today," she said, a suggestive lilt to her voice that had his eyes widening slightly. "We could go back to your place… have breakfast on the beach," she said. They could _not_ go back to his place. Mitch would be taking a swim after her morning run, trying to rid herself of a hangover. She'd be wondering where he was.

He felt something that was not unlike fear at the thought of the two women meeting like that.

"Or…"

"Or?" he echoed just before she kissed him.

She made a surprised noise into his mouth, almost like a yelp. She braced herself on his shoulder and pulled away slightly. "I think I'm vibrating," she said.

"Mm?"

"No, I think I'm actually vibrating," she repeated. She sat up, fishing his phone out from beneath the covers. "Who's Michelle Jabari?" she asked, handing him his phone, a picture of the former FBI agent in a white Yankee's tank top and sunglasses sticking her tongue out at him popping up as her contact photo.

He sat up straight, taking the phone from her hand. "She's a- uh, friend," he said, not looking at her. "A friend from work," he glanced at Catherine. She looked a little confused, had she been Mitch an eyebrow would have been raised and her head tilted to the side. "We go way back."

Catherine nodded as he answered the phone, holding it between his shoulder and ear as he leaped out of her bed and hurried to dress. He only just remembered their goodbye kiss before he was out the door.

* * *

"Sorry," Mitch said when he got to the house. Her jaw clenched when she saw him, her back going straight and her face going blank as she spoke to him. "Didn't mean to ruin your _fun_ ," there was a distinctly mean note to her voice he'd never had directed at him before. "But your sister just got into town and you wouldn't pick up your phone," she said harshly.

"Mary-" he began.

"I picked her up from the airport," Mitch cut him off, her eyes sliding away from his as she turned to walk up the stairs. "She's in the living room," she said not bothering to look back at him.

He sighed, running his fingers through his tangled hair.

Mary raised her eyebrows at him when he walked in the room.

"I'm sorry, Mary. I didn't have my phone on me," he began but stopped when he saw the smirk growing on her face. "What?"

"Nothing," she held up her hands. "Mitch and I had a great time," she said. "Drinks, movies, manicures, the whole shebang. What were _you_ doing?"

"I-" he didn't know how to finish that and drew a blank on any lie he might've been able to construct on the spot.

Mary's eyes widened. "Did you-" Steve did not like the surprised and offended tone in her voice. "Oh my god," Mary gasped, "You did, didn't you?"

"What?"

"You're doing the walk of shame!" she said, "Right in front of her!"

"Mary-"

"You _idiot_!"

"Mitch-"

"-totally loves you," Mary finished for him, whacking him in the chest with a half-closed fist, "You asshole."

He shook his head.

Mary looked at him strangely. "Do you not… what? You don't like her like that?" His jaw clicked, as he ground his teeth together. He did care about Mitch like that, he just knew he shouldn't. He couldn't care for her like that, because she- Mitch- "You do, don't you? You asked her to move in here with you… you two hang out, like, all the time," Mary said gently. "She's kind of amazing— smart, funny, a total badass…"

"I do, okay," he murmured lowly.

"Then why-"

"I already promised Catherine a date," he said, "I wasn't going to cancel and-" he paused, "Cath's pretty great."

Mary looked up at him. "And?"

He sighed, shook his head with a tight jaw. "I don't know."

"You can't have both, big brother."

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA for a while... lots of things have been going on. I got a job for the summer, cut part of my thumb off, went back to work and now I'm being transferred, all on top of summer classes. Anyways... this chapter and the next few took a while because I wasn't sure if I liked the direction I went. Lemme know what you think.


	37. Ko'olauloa Part 1

EPISODE 6 "Ko'olauloa" (North Shore of O'ahu)

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer began, speaking into the microphone as Kono sat on her surfboard, rising and falling with the water beside an older man with thin white hair and blue eyes. "Welcome back to the Coral Prince Surfing Championship here at the world famous Pipeline. How about a big hand for all of our competitors? On the water are some of our finest champions both past and present. We got Ty Samson, Rex Richardson and Kono Kalakaua…"

"I miss this, Kono," the man, Ian, said to her with a smile. "Being out here with the people who mean the most to me. This is where I want to be."

She smiled softly at him. "I think your fans couldn't agree more."

"And now ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce the man behind the brand.

It's lan Adams." the crowd cheered.

"Let's give them a show," Ian

"Whoo!" Kono shouted as Ian paddled towards the wave, standing on his surfboard. "Whoo! Go, lan."

A gunshot rang out and Ian was propelled backward off of his board and into the wave.

* * *

Mitch was eyeing Kono while Steve talked to H.P.D. She looked distraught, her face pulled into a tight and solemn frown as she stood beside the sheet covered body.

"I want this entire beach on lockdown. Nobody leaves until we give the order, okay?" Steve told the officer. "Thank you."

"This place is crazy," she heard Danny mention. "All these people, you'd think it's the Super Bowl."

"It _is_ the Super Bowl," she said, offhandedly, her eyes never leaving Kono. She hated to admit it, but she was worried about her younger friend. "It's Hawaii."

"She's right. The Coral Prince Championship is our Super Bowl," Steve affirmed. Mitch rolled her eyes at him.

"Grace keeps asking me for surfing lessons," Danny told them. "I told her no chance."

That drew her eyes to him. He was usually for anything that had even the smallest chance of making Grace happy. But he didn't want her surfing? It was Hawaii. Even Mitch was learning to surf in their downtime. She found herself having more and more since avoiding Steve in the off-hours. It meant a lot of time at the beach, a lot of time for Kono to give her surfing lessons. She could tell Kono wanted to ask what was up with her and Steve, but she didn't press. Mitch couldn't help but be thankful for that.

"You got something against surfing now?" Steve's eyes narrowed on his partner.

"I don't have anything against surfing," Danny held up his hands. "I have something against sharks, skin cancer, anything involving my daughter wearing a bikini."

"Lifeguards, sunscreen and one-pieces, Garden-State." Mitch shot down his protests in the order they arose.

"You gonna let that go or am I gonna have to state calling you 'The Big Apple'?" he quoted with his fingers.

"I _will_ punch you in the throat."

Steve shook his head, a smirk on his face as his partners bickered. It was good to hear their banter. She'd been unusually short and hostile towards him since Sunday and he wasn't sure he understood why. It didn't look like she was about to tell him either.

Chin cut the show short. "Hey, it's confirmed," he told them. "Victim's lan Adams. He's the CEO of Coral Prince, the biggest surf brand in the world. He was riding a wave and took a shot to the chest. So far nobody has seen or heard where the shot came from."

"Well, that's easy," Danny said. "It's a nationally televised event. Right?" he shrugged, gesturing around them shortly. "We gotta have cameras on. Something panning the crowd?"

"No, all the cameras are pointing to the water for the competition," Chin shook his head. "We're interviewing the other surfers in case lan wasn't the target.

Mitch frowned. "What was the surf report this morning?" she asked.

Danny held his hand out to the side, giving her a bewildered look. "Can I ask what that has to do with anything?" Mitch waved her him in a universal motion for 'shut-up' as the other two men answered.

"Yeah," Chin said. "Five to eight swells from the west. Light trades."

"All right, that would put the peak about 50 yards out, right?" Steve assessed.

"Yeah," Chin agreed.

"Moving target, bullet hit center mass," Mitch shook her head. "No way that that's a lucky shot."

"Trained sharpshooter?" Chin asked.

"Maybe," Mitch hummed, eyeing the terrain. It depended on a lot of things. Someone familiar with the area, learned with a gun but not necessarily trained could have pulled it off. "But whoever did the shooting, the mark-"

"-was definitely lan," Steve finished her thought and didn't notice the way her face pinched in annoyance.

"This is gonna be hard on Kono," Chin looked over at his cousin, standing closer to the shore amid the mass of cops.

"Why is that? She know the vic?" Danny said.

"Yeah. lan signed Kono to a Coral Prince Contract when she was about 15," Chin revealed. "He was really like a second father to her. She was actually riding for the team when she blew out her knee." He looked at them. "But instead of dumping her after that lan covered everything: surgery, rehab, all of it. Even though he knew she was never gonna compete again."

"You all right?" Mitch asked as Kono came to stand beside her.

"Yeah," she nodded, but she didn't look 'all right'. "I wanna go to the Coral Prince House talk to the team, get statements."

"We can cover it for you," the men offered but she shook her head.

"No," she said determinedly. "I want this one."

"I'm going with her," Mitch muttered, looking at none of them. No way she was letting Kono go alone on this. Steve nodded, though she was already following after Kono, not bothering to wait for his response or permission.

Chin's eyes narrowed in confusion at the way she almost stomped off and the slightly annoyed, but mostly put-out shake of Steve's head when she didn't recognize him. Danny sighed as the women left and shook his head. Something was off between those two and it was throwing off the entire team's dynamic. So he said, "I hate it when rich people get killed," instead, drawing attention away from Mitch's absence.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"They got something that everybody wants," Danny said as the three of them began to walk off the beach and over the H.P. D. officers and then after Michelle and Kono up to the Coral Prince house to talk with Ian's assistant and whoever else they could get any information out of.

"Yeah, money."

"Which means plenty of suspects."


	38. Ko'olauloa Part 2

EPISODE 6 "Ko'olauloa" (North Shore of O'ahu)

PART 2

* * *

Steve and Chin cracked a smile as Danny dumped the sand in his shoes over the railing, leaning on his good leg, his cane resting against the rail. "Next time try flip-flops, bro," Chin clapped the Jersey cop on the shoulder.

"I'm gonna pretend you just didn't say that."

"Hey, Chin, see if you can find out who's in charge," Steve said. "We need to start building a profile, get some background information."

"Financials," Danny interjected confidently. "First rule in homicide investigations. Follow the money."

"Copy that," Chin nodded.

"So break it down," Danny said. "I don't understand. Do these kids live here or what?

"Coral Prince Team and their coaches live here October to January," Chin told him patiently.

"Sorry, you said coaches?" Danny eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah."

"What do they say?" he asked insultingly, "'Don't fall off the foam toy' or what?"

"Very funny," Chin said, amused by Danny's unfailing misunderstanding of everything Hawaiian, especially surfing.

A young tattooed surfer gestured to Danny's cane with a lopsided grin. Steve was already grinning in amusement when the young surfer asked, "Bro, where'd you eat it?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Danny's eyes widened slightly as he leaned forward. "Excuse me?"

"The cane, bro," the surfer gestured.

Chin smirked, shaking his head at the other man's cluelessness. Steve almost laughed. "I'm sorry, are you speaking English?" Danny leaned forward.

"No need to get agro," the surfer leaned back slightly, his eyes narrowing on Danny.

"He caught it on land, bro," Steve said, gesturing with a slight smirk at his partner. "Danno don't surf."

"Shoots," the surfer laughed before jogging down the steps and onto the beach.

"I dare you tell me what he just said," Danny rounded on his partner. Steve only patted him on the back and laughed.

"Excuse me," Chin approached the pretty young woman with dark hair and a laptop that his cousin was speaking to. "I'm investigator Chin Ho Kelly."

"Linda Leon," she said. "I was lan's Executive Assistant."

"Would you happen to have his schedule from last week?" he asked her. "Any phone logs, e-mails financial transactions?" he listed.

"I can get all that for you, no problem," she nodded.

"What about anything out of the ordinary recently?" He asked her gently. "Stalkers, threats?

"No, nothing like that," she shook her head, a frown appearing on her face. "All lan talked about lately was this event and getting back on his board."

"Okay," Kono said calmly. "Did he seem nervous about today? Give you any hint that something was wrong?"

"No. As a matter of fact, he was happier than he'd been in a long time," she said. "It meant a lot to him that you came out today, Kono. He wanted the entire Coral Prince Team there." If he wanted the entire Coral Prince team, there was someone missing, both Chin and Kono knew.

"Why wasn't Ben there?" she asked.

The assistant shrugged. "You'd have to ask him that." So Kono found Mitch talking to Carlton Bass, Ben's father and joined them. She asked him why Ben wasn't there this morning.

"Because my son no longer talks to me," the tall long haired man said. "I tried last year at his mother's funeral, but he refused. I think lan tried to reach out to him too," he said, shaking his head, "but nothing ever came of it." Kono looked concerned, Mitch noticed.

"That was the last time you saw him?" Mitch asked.

The man nodded. "When was the last time you saw Ben?" he asked Kono curiously.

"I don't know. It's been years," she said softly.

"Hey, Kono," Steve greeted. "Mitch." She didn't acknowledge his appearance except for a slight nod. Danny eyed her curiously.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett and Detective Danny Williams," Kono introduced them. "Carlton Bass." The older man offered them a tight smile as he shook their hands. Carlton and lan grew up surfing together."

"Ian was selling board shorts out of his van, I was flipping condos in Waialua. A couple of beach bums, really," he said. " We never dreamed our businesses would take off."

"What's a real estate company doing involved in a surfing contest?" Danny asked.

"Carlton owns about 30 shopping malls that house Coral Prince Stores."

"It's been a lucrative partnership," Carlton nodded.

"Sir?" a short, dark-haired man interrupted softly, speaking to Carlton. "Sorry to interrupt, but the press would like a statement?" he said.

"Thanks, Randall," the older man nodded. "You'll excuse me."

"Oh, one more thing before you go," Danny interrupted. "Since you and lan go back, do you have any idea why someone would want to kill him?"

"Look," Carlton turned back to the small pile of cops. "He marketed the North Shore surfing lifestyle to the masses, and he profited wildly." he held his hands out to the sides briefly. "Lot of people resented that."

"But only one pulled the trigger," Mitch muttered darkly as the man walked away out of the Coral Prince House.

* * *

"This is the view from the cameraman down on the sand," Chin told them back at HQ as they watched the video. "That's the angle which the spectators from the beach were watching. Look at the way he falls. Back and to the left."

"No way that came from the beach," Steve and Mitch said at the same time, though neither acknowledged it. Steve closed his mouth first, his eyes flicking to Mitch as she finished, "The bullet came from above." She didn't once look at him.

Danny cleared his throat, interrupting the awkward silence that arose. "One of the houses maybe?"

"Maybe."

"The M.E. said the angle of entry was about 30 degrees," Kono said as she approached, startling her cousin.

"Cuz, I didn't see you there."

"Hey, Kono, listen," Steve said gently as he could. "Why don't you sit this one out? Just take the day."

"No, I'm fine," she said, looking away from him. Mitch caught her eye and Kono held it.

"Cuz, take the day," Chin nudged her.

"You know I can't do that," she said sharply.

"You know, part of doing this job is knowing when you're not the one to do the job," Chin said with his eyebrows raised. Mitch wondered if the sage-like speech voice was just something that happened or if he could summon it on command.

"She's good," she interrupted. Chin looked at Mitch in surprise, but her voice was firm and her eyes were locked with Kono's.

"All right."

"So if the angle of entry is roughly 30 degrees, that puts the bullet's trajectory up there," Chin pointed out on the map.

"So the shot was fired from the Pupukea ridgeline above the houses," Steve reiterated.

"Yeah," Chin confirmed.

"The only problem is there are no roads going in or out of there," Danny said.

"We don't need roads." Danny did not like the look on Steve's face when he said that.

* * *

Danny knocked on the door, seeing Kono sitting alone at the conference table, staring into the great big nothing. "Hey. What are you doing here?" he asked her. "The boss told you to beat it."

"Huh?" she looked up at him, eyes wide.

"Look," he said, "I really don't want to see that face he makes when we don't do what he tells us to do. I call it his constipated look."

Mitch snorted a laugh as she entered the room, dropping a glass of water in front of Kono as the younger woman cracked what could possibly be called a smile. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey," Mitch said, drawing her eyes. "You don't blame yourself, okay." She phrased it like an order, rather than a question or advice and despite herself, it made Kono smile. Mitch may not be particularly soft or comforting, but she cared. Still, she said nothing.

"You can't," Danny pressed, "Okay?"

Kono sighed, "I just felt helpless out there."

Danny nodded. "I know," he said, leaning against the doorway. "Cops, we're supposed to come in and save the day. But sometimes we just can't."

Kono looked up at him and then hesitantly at Mitch. "Did you ever have a teacher that turned you around? Someone that made you look at everything in a whole new way?" she asked them.

"Yeah, actually," Danny nodded. "Mrs. Stojack, my sixth-grade history teacher. Till I met her I thought the Cold War was fought in Alaska. Mitch?"

She chewed her lip and nodded. "Yeah, um, eleventh grade. Mr. Lance— put me on a better path… got me into the army." _Turned my life around_ , is what she didn't say.

"Well, lan was mine," she said. "And surfing was more than just a sport to him. It was earth and the sun and the sky and the water and the heart," she spoke earnestly. "It was everything and he passed that onto his surfers and it made us better people. I need to pay him back for that and I can't do that sitting here."

"I understand," Danny said.

"C'mon, girlie," Mitch said. "I got your back… and we got work to do."

* * *

"Are we gonna talk about it?" Kono asked as Mitch drove Steve's truck from Giovanni's to the beach. They were looking for Ben Bass. He'd been close with Ian years ago, but he hadn't been at the beach this morning. Kono wanted to know why.

"Talk about what?" Mitch asked though she knew exactly what Kono was referring to.

"You know what about," Kono called her out. "What happened between you and St-" she began to ask.

"Not now," Mitch said lowly, interrupting the former professional surfer.

"Look, I-" Kono sighed. "I'm sad and angry and a whole lot of things about Ian," she said. "But I'm still here. You said you're here for me." Mich's briefly looked at Kono. The younger woman was serious and calm. "I'm here for you too."

Mitch sighed. "I-" she paused. "Later, okay?"

"Later?" Kono echoed. She obviously didn't believe 'later' would ever come.

Mitch almost smiled. Usually, she'd be right, but Mitch cared about Kono, cared more than she usually did about most anyone. "Later," she repeated, "I promise."

Kono looked at her.

"I promise," Mitch reiterated. "Really. Just… not during the case. Not now. Not in his truck, okay." Her face pinched at the idea of talking about her 'stupid Steve feelings' in his truck.

Kono cracked a smile. "Okay."

"Okay?" Mitch echoed.

Kono nodded.

"Okay. Now this Ben, guy…"

"Excuse me," Kono called as they climbed over a large rock on the beach, more boulder-sized than anything. There was a man crouched by a small puddle-sized bit of water a little way out. "The guy at Giovanni's said Ben Bass was down here. Have you seen him?"

"I don't know," he said, standing. "Have you?"

He was smiling as he turned to look at Kono. "Ben?" she sounded surprised and excited all in one. Mitch cracked a smile, she supposed it was good to see old friends again.

"Kono," he replied as they hugged.

"Where's your hair?" she teased him. As of now his hair was a little curly and cut short, close to his head.

"Where's your retainer?" he returned.

"Fair enough," Kono shrugged. "Look at you, Mr. Environmentalist. You work for the Ocean Protectors?"

"Yeah," his eyes flickered to Mitch for a moment before he asked. "How have you been, Kono?"

"Well, I'm a cop," she told him.

"Of course, family business," he conceded.

"Mm-hm," she sounded. "This is Michelle, my partner, and friend," Kono introduced. "Former Army and FBI." There was a hint of pride in Kono's voice that gave Mitch the ridiculous need to blush.

"Call me Mitch," she shook Ben's offered hand.

"Ben Bass," he smiled. Not for the first time, she wondered if the alliteration in his name was intentional.

"So you here as a cop?" he asked.

"I'm here as a cop," Mitch smirked. "She's here as a friend," she gestured to Kono. "I want to talk to you about lan."

"Yeah." His face fell.

"I'm sorry," Kono said softly. "Look, you and lan were close. Do you know of anyone that would have wanted to hurt him?"

"We were close a long time ago," he said with a shake of his head. "Before the money. Once he became the same greedy beast as my father, well," he paused. "we didn't have much in common." There was a bitter, angry note to his voice that was hard to miss.

"You sound pretty angry with him," Mitch said.

"Disappointed," he told her.

"Were there a lot of people disappointed in him?"

"Yeah," he said, but shook his head with a small unsure shrug. "But whether that got him killed, I don't know. I couldn't stand to be around him anymore."

"Is that why you weren't at the Coral Prince House today?" Kono asked him.

"That's not my scene anymore, Kono. Besides my dad was there and that's" he paused. "Well, I don't know. When I heard about lan," he said. "I wanted to remember him in my own way, so I came out here," he gestured to the untouched beach around them.

* * *

A/N: I have no excuse for my lack of updates. Please shower me in reviews.


	39. Ko'olauloa Part 3

EPISODE 6 "Ko'olauloa" (North Shore of O'ahu)

PART 3

* * *

While Ben showed them around the beach, walked them through what he did this morning and how his relationship with both his father and Ian fell apart, Steve, Danny and Chin investigated the north shore. They found the spot where the shooter had been, a seven mil bullet casing and a whole lot of blood where someone had beld out a boar recently. Danny was the one who called Mitch. He said that Steve and Chin said it was Kapu territory —some sort of extreme boy scout gang intent on protecting the island, he said when she asked—.

Chin was at HQ.

Steve was dragging Danny along to some bar.

"A bar?" she asked.

"But Levi and Diego-"

"I know," he cut her off irritably, his voice terse.

"Don't yell at me, you asshole," she snapped back at him, "Steve's the one dragging you all over creation." Kono glanced over, hearing her raised voice. Mitch shook her head.

"You know what," Danny said. She heard the engine in the background come to a stop. "I'm gonna let you go."

"Danny-"

"I'll call you back," and he hung up, following Steve out of his camaro and up the walkway to this ridiculous bar. "Can I ask what we're doing here?"

"I swear to God, Danny," Steve ground out, not even looking at his partner. "If you ask me that again I'm gonna shoot you."

"Then shoot me," Danny held his hands out. "Seriously just shoot me. I'm not taking another step until you explain to me again."

"I've explained it three times," Steve's voice rose.

"Which is an indication of how ridiculous this detour is!"

"It's not a detour," Steve stopped, backtracking a few steps to talk to his partner. "It's a strategic op."

"A strategic op?" Danny said, amazed that Steve could say that looking as serious as he did. "You know what I like most is how you were able to say that with a straight face."

"So, what's the problem?" Steve asked.

"The problem is Levi Parker and Diego Stone, they are the problem," Danny pressed. "Yet we are going to the Tropics Bar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village," he looked at the sign, "to talk to the president of the Surf Club."

"Danny," Steve said simply.

"What?"

"On this island, there's an easy way to do things and a hard way," he tried to explain, hands together in front of him as he spoke. "With the Kapu talking to Kawika before we go after Levi and Diego is the easy way."

"Ah," Danny said in mock-realization. "So, what's throwing somebody in the shark tank? And then hanging another guy off a roof?" he asked.

"Those guys were from out of town," Steve shrugged.

"You're a sick person, you know that?" Danny called after him as Steve began towards the bar once again.

"In the best possible way though, right?" the SEAL grinned.

"No, no, not in the best possible way," Danny pressed. "In a very terrible way. It's not a compliment, you understand?" he said.

Inside the bar, Steve found Kawika, the head of the Kapu right away. He and Danny took seats across from him in a small table in the middle of the bar. It didn't take a genius to realize the other men, lining the bar's booths and tables around them were also Kapu.

"We loved lan," he said. "Half of the club is employed by Coral Prince as store clerks, team managers, warehouse guys."

"What is that?" Danny narrowed his eyes as the waitress laid an absurdly bright blue drink with a pink straw and a lemon hanging off the glass in front of Kawika.

"It's called a Blue Hawaii. You got a problem with that?" the man asked.

"No, no, no," Danny shook his head. "I'd like one actually. I just gotta have no alcohol because we're on duty."

"You call that a virgin."

"I call it not getting fired," Danny cracked.

"Excuse me, two more," Steve flagged the waitress. "Thank you." Then he turned to Kawaika and said. "Listen, we- I need your help. The shot that took out lan came from Pupukea. That's Kapu turf. Two of your boys are suspects. Levi and Diego."

"Levi and Diego are no longer Kapu," Kawika informed them, leaning backward.

"Why is that?" Danny asked.

"They became too violent, they were let go."

"Okay," Danny nodded. "Do you know where we can find them?"

"Of course."

"Good," Danny smiled, but the other man never elaborated. "Feel free to share that information with us anytime."

"Give me one good reason why I should cooperate with you, haole?" the Hawaiian man frowned deeply.

"Okay," Danny nodded. "You said you loved lan. And here's an opportunity for you to help us catch his killers." The other man-made no movement. Danny frowned. "Okay, maybe you just liked him a little bit, I don't know."

"Watch yourself, haole," the Kapu head threatened.

"There's the H-word again," Danny shook his head, unfazed. "You know it's Detective Williams or Danny."

"I got other words," the curly black-haired man said, eyes fixed on the man from Jersey, "but they all mean, 'Don't tell me what to do on my island.'"

"This is my island too, Kawika," Steve said.

"Is that right?" Kawika didn't look like he cared much, but Steve pressed on.

"That's right. My father and my mother are both buried here," he said. "My grandfather died on December the 7th 1941 defending the same land you want to protect. We may go at it different ways," he said, leaning forward, "but we've got the same end game, bro. So help us." Kawika looked at him but said nothing. Steve's eyes flickered towards the table as his voice grew hard. "Otherwise we'll just find these guys ourselves and then I'll come back here and I'll arrest your ass for obstruction of justice." Kawika stood, and Steve did too, all other members of the Kapu in the bar, turning towards the scene. "I came here today out of respect, Kawika," he said, "If you want to do things a different way, I'm game."

"Your grandfather died in Pearl Harbor?"

"Went down with the Arizona, he's still entombed there."

"Well, consider this a favor for him for his sacrifice," Kawika said. "I'll bring Levi and Diego to you. You got my word."

Steve nodded and they all sat, the other Kapu members turning away and back towards their food or whatever else it was they were doing.

"Okay. Thank you very much." When the waitress laid the bill on the table, Kawika pushed it towards Danny. "You want me to pay?"

"Haole, you took eight islands from us," Kawika said. "The least you could do is pick up the tab every now and then."

* * *

"When's the last time you talked to lan?" Mitch asked Ben as he walked Kono and her around his home. Tents were set up like houses in the trees, tiki torches set up like lamp posts around the area as people milled about, laughing and talking as they would anywhere else.

"He stopped by here a couple of nights ago," Ben said.

"Really?" Kono asked, "Why?"

Ben shook his head. "I asked him the same thing. He said he wanted us to be friends again. That he had changed."

"And what did you say?" Mitch raised her eyebrows.

"I told him to put his money where his mouth was," he told her seriously. "Then I'd believe him." She nodded.

"Ben's got a girlfriend!" a little boy called as they passed.

"Howz'it?" Ben called after him as Kono ducked her head. Mitch smiled, shaking her head slightly.

"So you live here? On the beach?"

"Over a year now," Ben nodded.

"I drive by this place so many times I never stopped," she said, looking around.

"People speed past it," Ben said, shaking his head. "They think we're a bunch of homeless meth addicts. Couldn't be further from the truth."

"Ben-ho!" a young girl with long dark hair ran up to them. "I made this for you."

"Thank you, Kaila," he said, crouching down to her level. She smiled at him. "You know I love these bracelets right? But since Kono and her friend Mitch are visiting maybe you can give this one to her."

"Sure," he little girl said, handing the beaded bracelet to Kono instead.

"Mahalo, Kaila."

"You have pretty hair," the little girl said. Mitch laughed at the bright smile that crossed Kono's face at the words.

"So do you," she said in return, causing the little girl to blush.

"I can make one for you too," Kaila told Mitch.

She smiled. "I'd like that very much." The little girl grinned widely and rushed off, calling to her mother about beads and Ben's friends. "She's a cutie," Mitch commented, watching her safely back to her mother.

"Kaila's mom runs a clothing store in Waikiki," Ben said, then gestured to a man putting laundry up on a line. "That guy works at the Bank of Hawaii. Most of these people got jobs and cars and families. But it costs millions of dollars to buy a house here. So instead of moving off the land of their ancestors, they choose to live this way."

"So who owns this land, the state?" Kono asked.

He nodded. "Neighbors are trying to get rid of us."

"I can't imagine they love a tent city in the middle of Mansion-ville."

"There's been a lot of threats," Ben nodded solemnly. "Some damage. It's getting worse."

"What can we do about it?"

"'We'?" he quoted, "I like that."

Mitch pretended to gag, effectively ruining their moment. Kono rolled her eyes as Ben blushed. Mitch laughed, "Sorry. I'm gonna head back to HQ." She gestured over her shoulder at nothing. "You two hang out…"

"I'll meet up with you later," Kono said.

"Nice to meet you," Ben smiled.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to _Alex Lover_ and _Musey-Potato_ for your review on the last chapter. This one is for you

Mitch is not the type of lady to take crap from anyone, so she's not going to sit on her ass while Steve chases off after Catherine. She came to Hawaii to get away from the FBI. She came for Steve and stayed for the job. If he's act like he wants her there, she's not going to stay. So, of course, there's a lot of tension right now that Danny and Kono are both picking up on and they want answers!

Let me know what you think of this chapter! Or send in questions! (I LIVE FOR THE ATTENTION PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ)


	40. Authors Note- update and a question

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry to say this is NOT an update. I have parts of the next chapter and parts and pieces and ideas for future chapters, but none of them are complete. I'm in college right now and having a hard time balancing my coursework. I also don't have access to a streaming service that has Hawaii Five-O on it. Many of you suggested the CBS streaming thing, but this is the only show I watch on CBS so I don't think that is a good place to be putting my money right now. Especially as I am saving up to hopefully do a semester abroad.

I am not leaving you hanging! I will update at some point.

I suppose what I am asking here is... do you want me to post the snippets I have of the characters just kinda hanging out? Living life together? At one point I wrote a "what if" kind of thing about what would happen when Mitch and Steve have kids and things of that like. If I did I would do it under a new story.

Lemme know what you think!

And I'm sorry!


	41. Ko'olauloa Part 4

EPISODE 6 "Ko'olauloa" (North Shore of Oahu)

Part 4

* * *

"Danny, what the hell are you doing?" Mitch cut herself off, unable to concentrate while he made those strange noises on the other end of the phone. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stood in the center of Ben's tent city on the beach. It was a warm, cozy area and as the sun was beginning to lower into the sea, she checked up on her partners.

"My tongue is the same color as my shirt," Danny said to Steve who was leaning on the hood of Danny's car.

"What?" she asked at the same time that Steve said Danny didn't have to drink the Blue Hawaiian. She was getting strange looks from the people milling about around her as she glared at the phone she was holding.

"Hold on," Danny told Mitch and then rounded on Steve. "Oh, I didn't?" he snarked. "I apologize if I'm not If I'm unfamiliar with the rules of 'strategic ops'. Okay, I mean, I thought that sitting around drinking a 24-ounce cocktail was a standard operating procedure." His voice was scathing and sarcastic, more than usual. Steve looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Danny distantly heard from his cell phone. "I didn't get a drink," Mitch commented.

"Well, it worked," Steve shrugged and looked away from his partner. "The Kapu said they'd get us Levi and Diego, didn't they?"

"Look, I'm headed back to meet Chin at HQ," Mitch said. Danny could practically hear her roll her eyes on the other end of the phone. "Call me back when you can hold a conversation, you weirdo." Her tone held little bite, but from the bored edge to her voice he could tell he'd annoyed her.

"Yeah, bye Mitch," he managed to say before she hung up. He'd deal with her later. Then he narrowed his eyes at Steve. "Why am I the one she's calling?" he asked. Steve shrugged and said nothing, uncharacteristically avoiding eye contact. "She usually calls you," Danny said, making back and forth hand motions. "Usually, you call her," he continued. "Except today... You made me call her. Why aren't you talking?" he asked. "You two've been weird since that case on Saturday."

"Nothing happened, Danny." Steve said shortly. "Drop it."

"Did you piss her off or something?"

"Drop it."

"What'd you do, Steve?" he asked, accusingly.

"What makes you think _I_ did something," Steve looked at him.

"So you did do something?" Danny said surely. Steve shook his head. "Huh? What was it?" Danny pushed the subject. "She's avoiding the hell out of you."

"I know," Steve ground out.

"You know?" Danny echoed. "She's living at your house and she's _still_ avoiding you. That's persistence, right there. What'd you do, Steve?"

"I didn't-" Steve shook his head. "Kapu'll be here any minute, okay? Let it go."

"Really?" Danny said, letting the subject go for now. "Will they? All I know is I'm standing here while two murder suspects could be on a plane right now flying back to the mainland."

"Relax and just trust me, okay?" Steve told him. "Kapu said they'd deliver them. They'll deliver."

"They were supposed to be here an hour ago," Danny pointed out. "I'm just curious. Where are they? Huh?"

"Island time," Steve said, and as he did the deep growl of an engine roar could be heard. Then a blue beat-up van pulled onto the scene. "Right on schedule," he said, standing up.

"Mahalo," Steve thanked the Kapu members who dumped Levi and Diego on the ground in front of him and Danny. Nodding back, they climbed into the van and sped away.

"How you guys doing?" Danny asked the two men. "You all right?"

"Couple years back you two got pinched on an assault charge," Steve recited when they said nothing. "Ian's testimony is what put you away."

"I was thinking about when you were locked up in the State Penitentiary," Danny gestured as he paced slightly. "You had time to think about things, plot revenge."

"What the hell you talking about?" Levi snapped.

"We found your hangout up on Pupukea Ridge. It's crazy because there's a clear view of the Pipeline from there," Steve's insinuation was clear.

"Nah, bro," Levi shook his head. "You don't cross Kawika and get away with it."

"Ian was protected by the Kapu," Diego said.

"So where were you during the Coral Prince Championship?" Danny asked them.

"With our PO."

"Really?"

"Call him," Levi said.

"I am going to call him," Danny said, pulling out his phone, "Right here. And you're gonna sit there and watch me. If your parole officer doesn't vouch for you," he said,

"We're gonna become a lot less friendly. Well," he shrugged, "He will," he motioned to Steve. "I'm always cordial."

"Manny, this is Detective Danny Williams," he called their parole officer.

"Uh, You'll tell Kawika we're cool, right?" Levi looked hesitantly up at Steve. "We never do nothing? "

"Yeah, we're just having a conversation with your boys Levi and Diego," Steve heard Danny say into the phone. "Yeah. You want to vouch for these guys? Thank you very much." He hung up and gestured to Levi and Diego. "They're good."

"All right, get out of here," Steve shook his head.

They turned back to the camaro as the two men scrambled to their feet and away from Steve and Danny. "Great," Steve shook his head. "Back to square one with no suspects."

* * *

Back on the beach, Kono walked with Ben in the dim lighting of the sunset. Mitch had long retreated from the area, but left her partner with her old friend with a promise of coming back whenever Kono called. As it was, the former-surfer-turn-cop was having a good night walking the sand with her almost old-flame. "You've come a long way from your condo at Diamond Head, all the Coral Prince swag," she said to Ben under the fading light. The picnic table they arrived and then sat at was lit under a deep orange light by strategically placed lanterns and tiki torches.

"Yeah, well, the only thing I miss from that time is Mom," he said.

"I'm sorry," Kono said. "I wanted to come to the service, but I heard it was for family only."

"Yeah, that was my dad's idea," he said, shaking his head.

"What happened between you two?"

"We were on a boat trip," he said, looking up at her, "surfing Bali. Coral Prince owns a factory down there. So one day I go with dad and lan to check it out. And the thing is pouring pollution into the water," he shook his head angrily, "and it's built on wetlands, which is crucial to the eco-structure. I mean, it should be protected land." He sighed,

"When I said that to lan you know what he said to me, Kono?"

"What?" she asked concernedly.

"'That's the cost of doing big business'," he quoted, "and my father agreed."

"So protect Hawaii, but screw the rest of the world?" she asked.

"Exactly," he said. "Hypocrite." He looked sorry he told her. "I know it hurts you to hear this, Kono. But that's what lan was. He and my father had it all planned. They were gonna rule the world together. I didn't want any part of it. Lived in Bali for a year. Then one day I got a call that Mom was sick and I came back."

"And you stayed," she said.

"This place, Kama'aina," he said with a soft smile as he gestured around them. "It's my home now." He paused, "Come on, I want to show you something."

He lead her to his homestead, filled with clothes and trinkets and everything his. It was homey, she thought, warm and cozy. He handed her a pile of pictures. "Hey, you recognize those two kids?"

It was the two of them, years ago— when his hair was long and she had a retainer and he was a hit with the ladies and she hadn't yet blown out her knee. They were happy, hugging the photo, making strange faces at the picture taker. "That was the day you won the championship," she said.

"And you blew out your knee," he said. "After that everything changed. But this moment, man," he smiled. "Life was good."

"You got all the girls back then," she joked.

"Yeah," he laughed, "Except for the one I really wanted."

She was certain he was going to kiss her— the way he moved in closer and just almost leaned in. He would have kissed her had a gunshot not rang out, had the screaming not begun.

They rushed out of the tent. Men on motorcycles weaving through the homes, holding firebrands and rifles, masks over their face as people were forced to dive out of the way. People screamed, rushing to find their family.

Kono recognized one little girl standing in the way of a speeding motorcycle. "Kaila!" she shouted, rushing to grab the little girl, diving to the side and pulling her out of the path.

Fighting mad, she got the chance to knock a branch into the next rider and took it, memorizing his plates as he righted himself. At that moment a rifle fired. Ben was holding it, firing into the sky. It was enough to spook the riders into leaving.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked her, after it all.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I got a partial plate off one of the bikes."

"Nice work."

"Listen," she told him, pulling out her phone, "I'm gonna get H.P.D. to sit on that beach village until we find out who attacked it."

* * *

"What's the point of burning that down? Those people haven't done anything."

"Got nothing to do with people, it's about the land."

"Hey, I just got off the phone with a diving buddy of mine over at the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

"She told me the lobbying got pretty heavy recently to take that land private and zone it for commercial use. There are a number of bidders on the table. The typical players popping up. There's one holding company on the fast track. Have money in escrow. Shortfin International. Guess who owns it?"

"Ian Adams.

"Okay, so wait a minute. So what if Ben Bass found out that lan Adams was trying to buy the land he was trying to protect? If I'm Ben Bass I'm not happy."

"What is it, coz?"

"Ben has a rifle," she told them reluctantly. "He used it to scare off the men who attacked the camp but there is no way he could have-"

"Okay," Danny cut her off, "Wait a minute. He's got motive and means, he's a person of interest." Mitch nodded in agreement but understood Kono's position.

"Danny and I will go talk to Ben and run that rifle through ballistics," Steve began.

"No," Kono said, "Let me. Ben is a suspect. I need to be the one to tell him."

He looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "All right. Mitch, stay with her." She rolled her eyes but offered no further comment. "Chin look into this land deal, okay? See if you can find out who else knew about it. And you can start with lan Adams' executive assistant."

Chin called them as they waited, in office for Ben to arrive. "lan Adams changed his will just before he died," he said.

"Why?" Mitch asked, eye narrowing.

"To make Ben Bass his beneficiary."

Her dark eyes widened in surprise before she shrugged and places her hands on her hips. Kono, however, narrowed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and concern. "What? Why would he do that?" she asked hurriedly.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna go speak with the attorneys and see if I can get a copy of that new will," he said, then paused. "Kono, Ben stood to inherit everything. That's even more motive."

"We gotta call you back," Mitch said as Ben Bass knocked on the glass door, an H.P.D officer beside him. She would have said "Speak of the devil" if she didn't think it would be insensitive to her friend and partner. She studied the man as he held up a hand and waved lightly at Kono. "Let us know what you find in that will," she said and hung up the phone.

Kono looked at her briefly and when she nodded, Kono motioned for the officer to let Ben inside.

"This is where you work?" the blonde man grinned. "Tough girl."

"Mmhmm," Mitch hummed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning her hip against Kono's desk.

"When I have to be," Kono said.

"So, what's going on?" he asked. "I got the message you wanted to talk?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Did you know that lan recently changed his will?" Mitch asked him, her voice was clear and smooth. She looked as if this information was inconsequential, but it turned his whole world around. He looked at her in surprise, looking genuinely taken aback when continued to say, "To name you as his estate's primary beneficiary?"

"Wh- No," he sputtered. His blue eyes were blown wide as he took a step back as if she'd delt him a physical blow.

"He was also in the final stages of purchasing the land the beach village is on," Kono added, her eyes fixed on her childhood friend.

He looked between them, one then the other and opened his mouth, "What?"

"Are you saying you didn't know?" Kono asked.

"Am I saying I didn't know?" he repeated like he couldn't believe it. "No, he said, hands out to his side. "I didn't know." He looked at Kono. "Ian came around the village in the last couple of weeks saying he was a changed man. I didn't buy it."

"You have to give me more than that," she told him. Mitch was proud of the steadily blank look on her face. She wasn't giving anything away, no matter how close to Ben she was.

"Like what?" he asked, a line forming between his brows

"If lan was buying the land to develop it and evict all of you, you had a motive to kill him," Mitch said frankly so Kono didn't have to.

"I-" he looked at her, then his eyes drifted to her partner. "Kono, you don't honestly think I'd kill-"

"Ben, we have to ask the question," she said. "I have to. It's my job."

His eyes narrowed as he took a step backward. "You brought me here because I'm a suspect?" he said.

"No one can confirm your alibi because you were alone on the beach collecting water samples," Kono said.

"That's right. I was," he backed up, voice raising defensively.

"You have a hunting license," Mitch added.

"So do most of the guys who grew up on this island!" he said. "We hunt."

"I'm gonna need your rifle," Mitch pressed.

He shook his head, looking between the two women with something like surprise. "Do I need a lawyer?" he asked.

Solemnly, Kono said, "Yes."

* * *

 _A/N: I have the rest of this chapter from when I was writing more. I also have the next episode pretty much-completed theres just some inbetwee scenes i'll have to fabricate. So... thanks for sticking with me! Ill have another chapter up sometime soon._


	42. Ko'olauloa Part 5

EPISODE 6 "Ko'ollauloa" (The North Shore of O'ahu)

Part 5

* * *

"H. P. D. is holding Ben Bass for probable cause," Danny recapped as the computer beeped in the background. "Unless we can charge him with lan's murder, he's going to walk in 48 hours. Ballistics give us anything?"

"Test on Ben's rifle was inconclusive," Kono said.

"What about the satellite maps?"

"There's nothing showing the spot Ben said he was at the time of the murder," Mitch shook her head.

"That doesn't mean he did it," Kono protested.

"Doesn't mean he didn't," Mitch reminded her gently

"I'm sorry, Kono," Danny said.

"Traced the partial plate that Kono caught back to a tour operation called Katonk Jeep and Bike Rentals," Chin said as he approached the other four Five-O agents. "Guess who works there?"

"Who?" Danny asked as Chin pulled up their pictures on their table-computer. "Oh, look at that, my buddies Levi and Diego."

"Wait a minute. Don't you guys think it's a little coincidental these guys were trying to destroy the same land that lan was trying to buy?"

"I think it warrants another conversation at the very least," Steve said to Danny.

Other than Steve apparently trying to kill them during a small car chase up a cliff, Danny told her, everything went well. He and Steve were currently waiting with the tied up suspects, Levi and Danny who were insistent upon the fact that "we never do nothing."

"You didn't?" Danny asked, not believing them in the slightest.

"Where'd you get the donut?" Steve gestured to the large bruise on Levi's face.

"My girlfriend got a little rough last night," the man attempted to lie.

"That wasn't your girlfriend, that was our partner. Lucky you made it out of that village with only a mark," he said.

"You cops, you can't do nothing," Levi shook his head, "We're not scared of you."

"Now, how do you think that makes me feel?" Danny shook his head. "I mean, here I am a duly sworn officer of the law and you are showing me zero respect. I mean it's hurtful, really," he finished as a large truck approached.

"Who's that?" Levi asked.

"That is someone you are scared of," Steve said as Kawika stepped out of the truck and towards them.

"Kawika, we never do nothing!" they shouted, but he paid them no mind.

"Thanks for coming all this way, Kawika," Steve said.

The other man nodded respectfully in response, crouching down to Levi and Diego's level. "Tell the haole cop everything he wants to know," he said lowly, gesturing once at Danny.

"Who paid you to burn that village?"

"Randall," Levi said.

"Randall?" Danny asked, "Randall who? Last name."

"Barrett."

"That's guy that drives Carlton Bass around," Danny remembered.

"How do you know him?" Steve asked harshly.

"Met him at Coco Head shooting," Levi looked up at him.

"You met Randall at the rifle range?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, where else you gonna shoot then at Coco Head?" Levi responded sarcastically, but cowered under a harsh look from Kawika and said, "Yes, sir, Mr. Police."

"What else can you tell us about Randall?"

"We took him to Pupukea. Said he wanted a clear shot of Pipeline."

* * *

"Chin, we got Randall heading east on Halwalla Boulevard. Let's box him in from the west. Consider him armed and dangerous."

"Randall Barrett, get out of the car."

They ripped him out of the car and had Randall kneel down on the ground. Meanwhile, Danny went through the man's car. "Steve?" he said.

"What?"

"Just a wild guess, murder weapon."

"It's not that black and white," Randal insisted.

* * *

"Ben?" Carlton said in surprise as the young blonde man entered with the Five-O task force. "What's going on? Why did you call me? Son?"

"Don't you ever call me that again," Ben shouted, Kono holding him back by the arm from the other man.

"Ben?"

"He knows," Mitch said dryly.

"What are you talking about?" Carlton's face pinched

"He knows you had lan killed,"

"That's insane.

"Carlton Bass, you're under arrest for the contact murder of lan Adams.

"Are you kidding me?

"No, he's actually not kidding.

"We have Randall and your two goons, Levi and Diego, in our custody now.

"You hired them to torch the beach village," Chin said. "Set them up for murder knowing they had a beef with lan. You're probably not gonna walk away from this one."

"So it's my word against that of my driver and two ex-cons? I'll take my chances.

"'I, lan Adams, hereby bequeath my ownership stake in the Coral Prince Corporation to my only living relative, my son, Bennett Bass'," Chin quoted from Ian's will.

"When did you find out lan was Ben's father?" Mitch asked harshly "Ben said that lan had been coming around trying to get back in his life."

"Did Ben's mom confess to lan?" Kono pressed, "Did she tell you?"

"You had plans to build a resort on that beach village land, but lan got there first," Steve said to the businessman, "He was gonna give the land to Ben, but you had him killed before he could finalize the deal."

"Boss, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to do the honors," Danny said as the others backed away and followed the H.P.D officers out the door of the Coral Prince house.

"Book him," Steve said, leaving the usual nickname off of the end.

"Thank you," Danny said. "I heard that."

"Good," Steve said, then paused and looked at his partner, "You know when I say, 'Book him, Danno,' it's," he stopped, usure of the words he was looking for, "a term of endearment."

"Okay, do it every day, I like it."

"Yeah," Steve smiled.

"You have got to talk to Mitchy though," Danny said, "The two of you are driving me wild."

"I should have known better than to suspect you," Kono said as she and Ben and many other who knew and loved Ian paddled out to sea to spread his ashes.

"You were only doing your job," he told her.

"Your forgiveness means a lot, Ben," she said. "Thank you. It's up to you now. Manage the team and run Coral Prince. You can do it the way you always wanted to and that's what lan wanted." It was a good way to remember him.

"Ian," Ben sighed "He should be here, you know."

"Yeah, I know. He loved you and... he's home now," she smiled at Ben. "and that's all that matters."

* * *

 _A/N: Another chapter! Lemme know what you think! Schools rough and I've been edited the last chapters I wrote when Five O was still on Netflix so... things to come!_


	43. Makeup

In-between

* * *

There was plenty of pacing about the kitchen before Steve decided it was time he made this right with her. She hadn't spoken to him the whole ride home and as soon as he put the car in park she'd been out and walking away from him.

She'd come back downstairs about fifteen minutes ago. She was out back now, lounging in her usual chair in a dark purple swimsuit with a deep v-cut neckline with ties behind her neck in a halter top fashion. He slid the porch door open and stepped out to meet her. Her light brown hair was piled in a messy bun on top of her head and her eyes were closed as she ignored his presence completely. She didn't seem like she planned on breaking her silence any time soon, content to fake a nap as long as he was within her general vicinity.

He sighed heavily and grabbed the other chair. He picked it up and brought it over to sit next to her, his knee nudging her thigh insistently.

Her eyes opened, immediately drawing into a sharp glare dedicated especially to him. "What do you think you're doing?" Her voice was low and sharp.

"We need to talk, Mitch."

She scoffed, sitting up and scooching backward in the chair. "We absolutely do not," she said, moving to climb off the other side.

He caught her ankle gently in his hand, preventing her from moving. "Yeah, we do," he said gently.

"Let go, Steven," she said. Her voice was sharp and her glare was dark.

"Michelle-" he said her name.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she cut him off before he could even begin. He let go and she stood, shifting her weight uncomfortably when he continued to stare expectantly at her. "I don't- I don't wanna talk about it," she repeated softly, shaking her head.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said persistently, looking up at her as she steadfastly avoided his eyes. "You know that, right?" His voice was sincere and soft. He saw he blink. He saw her jaw clench, but she said nothing. "Mitch, I care about you… a lot."

She shook her head, "Don't," she said, holding her hand out to the side. She wasn't sure she could take it if he 'let her down easy' right now. She'd done too much too fast- picked up and moved her whole life on a whim. It wasn't the first time -she was reckless by nature (reckless but not impulsive)- but she was feeling a little too vulnerable, a little too fragile to be having this conversation. She needed her walls up for this. She needed a little more confidence to talk about this thing between them, because otherwise she was going to cut and run and truthfully, she didn't want to do that. Not to Steve. "Okay, just don't," her voice cracked slightly.

"Michelle-"

"No!" she snapped loudly.

"We can't just keep ignoring one another," he all but shouted at her.

"Damn straight, we can," she shouted right back at him. Her dark eyes were firm and hard, devoid of the softness she usually showed him. "I'll just… get my own apartment and," she trailed off, sounding distinctly sad for a moment.

"Mitch, no," he said quickly, jumping to his feet. "Let me talk to-"

"Just don't, okay?" she said, holding out one hand and shaking her head. A couple pieces of hair fell from her bun, down around her face. "I just… I need a minute."

He nodded, a muscle in his jaw clenched as she took a few steps away and turned her back to him. He heard her take a deep breath, watched her shoulders rise and fall, watched her place her hands on her hips. Then she turned back to him, "Okay… hit me," her hands fell briefly to her sides as she attempted a smile. It fell a bit flat, but it meant the world that she tried. Afterward, her lips returned to their pursed position afterward.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You're pissed at me."

"I- I was," she said, looking away again. "It was stupid," she shook her head. "I shouldn't have… It's just…" she exhaled loudly, unable to finish her thought. He waited for her. He wasn't a patient person, but he forced himself to wait for her. "Maybe I've gotten a little more attached to you than I should have," she said, taking a few small steps forward as her voice softened, "and I got a little jealous."

He couldn't help the smirk that arose.

She rolled her eyes at him and scoffed, "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," he said.

"You were thinking it." The glare she fixed him with was more good-natured and playful than heated this time. "… and maybe I was just a little bit hurt too," she admitted just barely loud enough for him to hear.

"Michelle," he said her name, quickly closing the distance between them in two long strides. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I didn't think..." he said, looking down at her. "I didn't think you-" He shook his head and exhaled. "I'm kind of attached to you too," he used her words. She shook her head at him, but her lips quirked upwards when his hands encircled her waist. "I shouldn't have gone out with…" he shook his head of Catherine. She was on a boat, suited up and gone again as she always was, as she always would be. But Mitch was here— she was good and fun and smart and funny and stubborn and fucking gorgeous and she was more than enough. "You're more than enough," he said softly. More than he deserved, he thought.

Her hands gripped lightly onto his shirt at his hips as she moved a shuffle step forward, tilting her head upward to look him squarely in the eyes. She was a tall woman, but he was taller still, standing about half a foot taller than her 5'8 height. "You promise?" she said suspiciously, with her eyes narrowed and brows furrowed deeply.

"I promise," he said with a smile he was sure looked dopey and dropped his head forward until their noses brushed together.

She laughed a little, her eyes closing briefly. "Steve," she whispered lowly.

"Yes?"

"I-"

"Hey Mitch, do you- Ohmygod!" Mary interrupted them, her brown eyes blowing wide as the two jumped apart. Mitch flushed slightly as Steve smirked, ducking his head slightly at the gaping expression on his sister's face.

"Um, what- what was it that you needed?" Mitch asked, swallowing the lump in her throat as she brushed back a few flyaway hairs.

Mary smirked, leaning against the doorway. "So when did you two-"

"Mare," Steve interrupted as Mitch blushed red.

"What?" she asked. Then she laughed, looking at both of them. "I told you so," she said to him, then sauntered away, a wine glass hanging from her left hand.

Suddenly flustered and all too aware of what had almost transpired, Mitch looked up at him once, forced an awkward smile and then fled the scene, leaving Steve standing alone, confused on the patio.


	44. Ho'apono Part 1

EPISODE 7 "Ho'apono" (Accept)

Part 1

* * *

"Welcome, early risers," a white haired man greeted his tour at Pearl Harbor. "The first tour of the day is always the best," he said, hands on his hips. "Before we get started, can anyone tell me about the battleship we're standing on?"

A young freckle-faced brown-haired girl in a bright pink tee shirt raised her hand, answering when he nodded to her. "The Missouri was where the Japanese surrendered to Allied Powers to end World War II," she recited.

"Very good," he told her with a small approving smile. "Mighty Mo served in battles all over the world. Since 1992 however, those guns, like The Missouri herself, have been decommissioned. And now she enjoys peaceful retirement here in Pearl Harbor," he said. "Now let's get haze gray and underway. Which is ship talk for 'we're on the move'."

Down below, on the docks, three policemen cut off a murder suspect. "Freeze. Don't move. Hands up. Hands in the air," one cop shouted, nearing the suspect.

"All right, all right. I'm sorry," he cried, kneeling down

"Down. Down. Drop your weapon," the cop said, coming just close enough that the suspect was back to shoot up, punch in him the face and knocked him to the ground, pointing his gun at the remaining cops. "I didn't do it."

"Drop your weapon now."

"I didn't kill my wife," he said, as he grabbed a passerby, a middle-aged woman in a flowy white shirt, around the neck and used her to shield himself from the police as he boarded the ship, the U.S.S Missouri.

* * *

"Commander McGarrett. Agent Jabari. Detective Williams," the attractive dark-haired Asian woman in a charcoal grey suit flanked by a red-haired assistant greeted them as sirens blared around them. "Wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Laura Hills," she introduced, shaking their hands. "I took over as Governor Jameson's new public safety liaison."

"What have we got?" Steve asked.

"Suspect on board is Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Graham Wilson, SEAL Team 5," she said, handing Danny a picture.

"Hang on. He's a SEAL?" Steve asked.

"Heavily decorated," Laura said, leading them forward. "He's holed himself up inside with an unknown number of hostages."

"Any contact with him since he's boarded yet?" Danny asked, handing Mitch the suspect's image. He was a relatively handsome man, with a square jaw, dark hair and a tanned complexion, young enough to be extremely dangerous. She handed the image to Steve.

"He told our negotiators he would start killing hostages if we move in on him," Laura said.

"Did he make any demands?" Michelle asked.

"Just one," Laura said, "Find his wife's killer."

"Oh. That's interesting," Danny noted, "When did that happen?"

"This morning. Her name was Noreen Wilson. Graham's given us four hours to find her killer," she told them frankly.

"It would be too much to hope that he mentioned who did it," Danny said dryly with a flick of his wrist. "Any suspects?"

"Yes," Laura said, dragging the 's' out a little. "Him. H.P.D. found Graham at the crime scene holding the murder weapon. When they confronted him, he ran."  
"And he wants us to find the killer?" Danny made a strange hand motion, looking briefly at Mitch. "I don't suppose telling him he did it would suffice, huh?" She snorted her laughter and shook her head at him.

"My only concern is getting those hostages off that ship," Laura said realistically. "Now, usually SWAT would handle something like this. But the governor seems to think that with your background as a SEAL," she said to Steve, "that you'd be better equipped to handle the situation."

"Him? And us, we're here for what?" Danny gestured to Mitch and himself. "The entertainment?"

"As former Army _and_ FBI, the governor thought Agent Jabari would also be of use, having seen similar situations with-"

"Yeah, yeah," Mitch cut the other woman off with a wave of her hand. "I got the picture. This is gonna get sticky no matter which way you spin it."

"You can tell SWAT to sit tight. I'll go in alone," Steve said.

Mitch's ponytail whacked Danny in the face as her head spun to stare angrily at Steve. "The hell you are," she snapped at him.

"Okay, that's just stupid," Danny agreed, waving away her hair.

"Excuse me?" Even the public relations lady looked taken aback.

"Graham's a SEAL," Steve said. "He's been trained in close-quarter combat. Right now he has the high ground. You send SWAT in blind, they're gonna take heavy losses and more than likely get multiple hostages killed."

"Yeah, but-" Mitch began.

"If this guy didn't kill his wife," Steve bulldozed onward.

She silently fumed at him, her upper lip curling in a way that Danny thought put her on par with a number of his daughter's Disney villains. Steve, however, did not seem off-put.

"He deserves at least a conversation before we go in guns blazing. If he did, and he's gonna kill again, I'll take him out myself. But if you want my help today," he told Laura steadily. "You get it my way. I'm going alone."

"This is stupid," Mitch repeated as she helped him gather his gear. After their _encounter_ , as Mitch had dubbed it, the other night, things had been awkward between them, mostly because of her, she could admit. She was suddenly scared of everything she'd entertained wanting with him. Now that she had the chance to go for it, something was holding her back.

Steve was endlessly confused by her seemingly random change of heart, but he was glad to see she was still worrying over him, even if it was in her typical stubborn and angry fashion.

"You shouldn't be going alone," she said.

"Mitch-" he said, putting his gun down to look at her.

"It's dumb and-"

"Mitch-"

"Who's gonna watch your back?" she continued, not even glancing up at him.

"Michelle."

"What?" she shouted, louder than she meant to and all but tossing the last of his water gear at him as she shook her head.

"You're not coming with me," he said.

"Well of course not," she muttered moodily, "I work better from a distance."

"Sniper," Danny sing-songed as he approached, sure he had figured out her past professional specialty and only mildly annoyed she wouldn't confirm it.

"Shut up, It's classified," she snapped at him, putting Steve's bag on the hood of the Camaro and putting her hands on her hips.

Danny held up his hands in a mock surrender before he turned to Steve and said something she was certain did not have any real meaning: "Okay, let's say I am you and you are the bad guy here, okay?" He was already off to a bad start. "I would know that all the ways onto the ship are visible somehow. So how would you outsmart yourself and get yourself onto that ship without yourself seeing yourself?" he said as Mitch put the rest of Steve's gear into a waterproof bag and laid it on the hood of the car.

"What?" Mitch asked him as Steve looked up.

"Okay. Was that an actual attempt at a question or are you just kind of throwing words at each other, hoping they make sense?" he said to Danny.

"How will you get on the ship without Graham seeing?" Danny rephrased.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Mitch muttered, leaning against the car door.

"Graham is expecting a threat from land, not from the water," he said. "I'm just gonna go for a swim." He made it sound so easy.

"Go for a swim?" Danny repeated, one hand over his shoulder gesturing to the water. "You're serious?" he said as Steve stripped off his shirt. Mitch shook her head, but didn't avert her eyes from his chest. "Now you're shirtless," Danny narrated. "That's great."

"Believe it or not," Steve rolled up the ship's blueprints. "I've done this before."

"You've done this before?" Danny said, something in his voice saying he seriously doubted that. "You've snuck onto a floating museum to rescue a bunch of tourists who are being held captive by a man who is accused of killing his wife?"

Mitch shook her head, flicking Danny's ear. "He didn't mean, literally, you whack-job."

He recoiled away from her, glaring as he lifted one hand to cover the offended body part. "You flicked me," he said as if he couldn't believe it.

"I did," she nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're mad at him," Danny pointed at Steve, "why am I getting flicked?"

"Look," Steve interrupted. "I can't see any other way of stopping this thing from escalating. We only have four hours."

"I believe it," Danny conceded. "All right, what's your plan?"

"We're gonna hold SWAT in position so Graham thinks we're still negotiating. In the meantime, I'll board, try to make contact while you two investigate this murder," he said.

"I have to gain his trust, get him to see that we're working on his behalf. So maybe I can get these people out safe, Graham included. But only if he feels like I actually understand him."

"Okay. That's great," Danny said.

"Steve, what happens when we investigate and find out he _did_ kill his wife," Mitch began.

"Which he most certainly did," Danny interjected. She rolled her eyes at him.

"What are you gonna do then?" she finished, a flash of concern in her dark colored eyes.

"At least we'll know what we're dealing with," he said, his eyes tearing away from hers.

"Yeah," she nodded, "See, that answer, did not make me feel better," she said as Chin and Kono arrived with new information.

"Hey," Chin greeted. "H.P.D. says neighbors reported hearing screams coming from Graham's house. Cops arrived, found him with a knife in his hand. When they tried to arrest him," Chin said, "he fled."

"They also found his 7-year-old daughter hiding under a couch," Kono added. "Hasn't talked since Child Welfare took her into custody."

"Maybe she saw something," Danny said. "Freaked her out."

"Okay I'll go see the kid, see if she knows anything," Kono said, "Because, ya know I'm one of two women on the team. You'd probably ask me to do it anyway." She shrugged.

Mitch cracked a smile as Danny said, "No, no, it's not because you're a woman. It's because you're a rookie, which is way worse."

"Now, I'll have my phone on me, but don't call me, I'll call you, okay?" Steve said.

"Bet you used that line before," Kono smirked as she backed away.

"I'll initiate contact once I'm in a secure location," he finished, throwing the bag over his shoulder. And grabbing the swim goggles hanging from Mitch's index finger.

"Be careful," she reminded him quietly as Chin commented on his choice of words, "That one too." He winked just before he turned to walk away. She rolled her eyes, but there was an almost smile on her lips.

"Good luck, Aquaman," Danny called loudly.

* * *

A/N: Hey everybody! I'm back at it again! How did you all like the last chapter? I know it was kind of awkward, but cmon this is Mitch and Steve, as badass and amazing as they both are neither of them are very in touch with their feelings and admitting something like that makes Mitch vulnerable in a way she isn't comfortable with. Anyways, there's more to come! Lemme know what you think is gonna happen next with the characters?


	45. Ho'apono Part 2

EPISODE 7 "Ho'apono" (Accept)

Part 2

* * *

Steve climbed on board and re-dressed easily enough, soon stalking through the corridors, gun drawn and blueprints in hand. Lights flickered in what was most definitely an 'employees only' part of the ship.

He turned the corner to see an older man with white hair, khakis, and a blue polo shirt with the museum's logo on the right breast. "What the-" the old man said, one hand closed into a fist.

"Whoa, whoa," Steve said, drawing his gun away from the older man and holding his hands up. "Easy, easy, easy. Okay?" he said as the man lowered his fist. "I'm here to help. Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett," he introduced in a hushed voice.

"It's about time some backup arrived," the man said, his voice deep and crackly. He was panting slightly. "Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Ed McKay," he said. "U.S. Navy. Retired."

"You're running a tour?" Steve asked him.

"Yeah," he nodded, "I heard shots fired, then it was chaos, people running everywhere. I was able to evac most of my group, but a few fell behind and that lunatic took them hostage," he said angrily, shaking his head.

"How many?" Steve asked.

"Seven. He took them that way towards the wardroom," Ed pointed.

"Okay. Good work, Boats," Steve said, unfurling the blueprints to plot a course. "Listen, getting off the ship right now is too dangerous. Is there a safe place you can lay low for a while."

"Oh, I'm not hiding anywhere," Ed shook his head, "And you put those blueprints away because I'm coming with you," He said determinedly. "Those are my people that he's got. I walk this ship front to back five times a day. There's not a person alive who knows it better than I do. Certainly not some map." Obviously, he was not going to be leaving.

Steve nodded. "Okay. But I say 'Jump', you say 'How high?' You hear me, sailor?"

"Yes, sir," the old man saluted.

"And stay out of sight, no matter what I do."

"You got it."

* * *

Kono stood with a social services worker out in front of the Child Welfare Services building. "Who's gonna take care of Lily?" she asked him.

"Graham's sister is flying in from Oklahoma," he said. The young girl was sitting on a concrete bench alone, about ten feet away, clutching a stuffed animal attached to a small backpack. "Arrives tonight."

"What about on the mother's side?" Kono asked, "Is no one listed locally?"

"We haven't found anyone yet."

"Has she said anything about her mother's murder?"

"Hasn't said a word," he said seriously. She thanked him, taking her leave to speak to the little girl, Lily, instead.

"Hi, Lily," she crouched in front of the girl, clasping her hands in front of her. "My name is Kono. I bet you've been asked a lot of questions today, huh?" she said. "Well, no more questions for now, because I'm hungry and I'm gonna get some shaved ice if… you wanna come with me?"

* * *

"So you think this guy killed his wife?" Ed asked.

"He's gone to a lot of trouble to say he didn't," Steve said as they made their way through the ship, Steve leading the way, gun drawn.

"Please," they heard a woman whimper.

"Hey, no talking here," a man responded harshly.

Through an open door, Steve saw a woman sitting on the ground, her back against the cabinets, the feet of a few other hostages also on the ground. A man stood over them, the suspect, in a blue collared shirt and holding a gun.

"I'm sorry, but, sir?" a tired, and sweaty woman who looked to be having a hard time breath asked quietly.

"No talking," he snapped at her.

"Please, I'm hypoglycemic," Steve heard her say. "My husband went to get me a snack when-" she stopped. "Look, if I don't eat something soon, I'm gonna pass out."

"Does anyone have any food for her?" he asked, his tone of voice harsh and annoyed. "Slow!" he shouted as a man reached into the pocket of his blue flowered shirt and handed her a small package.

"They're peanuts. It's protein," he mumbled.

"Thank you," she said.

"Everyone keeps completely quiet. Got it? Disobey that order," the SEAL said slowly, "and I will hurt you. That's a promise.

* * *

"Broken furniture, blood spatter on the walls," Chin listed. "This is a hell of a struggle."

"It makes a lot of sense," Danny said skeptically as Mitch shook her head, surveying the home with her eyes. "Graham's a Navy SEAL and his wife weighs a buck-oh-five, if that."

"That's what I'm saying. Should have been an easy kill," Chin took a picture of the blood splatter on the wall. "Why is it so sloppy?"

"Love and hate, right?" Danny shrugged. "Two sides of the same coin. Why they call it a crime of know, marital spat escalates, just like that, he snaps. He goes from heads to tails," he said, nodding his head as he narrated his take on the situation. "First, he just wants to make her suffer a little bit. The wife ends up dead."

"Dude," Mitch narrowed her eyes at him, "that's fucked."

"How long were you married again?" Chin asked.

"It's just a theory," Danny shrugged.

Mitch hummed as she scanned over the bookshelf, neatly organized and arranged by topic, not a speck of dust on it. The surfboard in the corner was more for decoration than anything, but it filled the space between the bookshelf and the desk nicely and kept with the room sleek, but homey decor. "Hm. Wong Lee," Chin said, gesturing to the Chinese menu on the table. "That's the best dim sum on the island."

"You read Chinese?" Danny asked him

"Yeah, enough to order," Chin shrugged.

"That's good to know for the future," Danny said, coming up next to her she began to rummage through the contents of the desk. She pulled out the drawer, even its contents was neatly placed and arranged in two piles, but there was nothing in the first drawer that was of any importance.

The second drawer caught when she tried to open it. She jerked it once. Twice, it wouldn't move. "Danny, wait. This is catching on something. Give me a hand?"

"Yeah," he said, grabbing the other corner so they could pull it out.

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute," Danny murmured, pulling a leather-bound book from the underside of the drawer. He unwound the string that held it closed and opened the book, flipping through it and sighing. "No chance you also read Russian, right?" he asked Chin.

"No. Why?" Chin's eyebrows furrowed.

"Because it's in Russian," Danny said.

"How do you know?" Chin asked, pushing the drawer back in place.

"See the V's and backwards R's?" Danny pointed out. "I had this case back in Jersey. Russians trying to muscle in on this crew from North Bergen. The press called it the 'borscht bust'," he said, flipping the page. "Got my picture in the paper."

"Your parents must have been very proud," Mitch said sarcastically, coming up behind him to look over his shoulder at the writing.

"Yeah, they misspelled my name," Danny said, smirking when Mitch laughed.

"Husband's file didn't say anything about language training," Chin noted.

"Well, maybe it belonged to the victim," Danny said. "Let's get this checked out.

"We're in luck, boys," Mitch said. "I can read it… _mostly_ ," she admitted, narrowing her eyes at a couple of words. "Handwriting's a little wonky."

Danny snorted, handing her the book. "All yours, Pavlova."

"She was a Prima Ballerina, Jersey," she commented on his nickname, "not really fitting." He shrugged, about to make a comment when she said, "What's this?" holding up a key that had fallen from the book. She handed it to Danny to take a picture against the white cloth over the coffee table.

"397," he read the numbers off of it.

"That's a safe-deposit box key," Chin noted.

"All right. Let's get both of these checked out," Danny said. "How fast you think you can read that thing?" He asked Mitch.

She shrugged, "Guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Her cell phone rang with the beginning notes of Captain America's theme song blaring loudly as she reached into her back pocket. Her ringtones never failed to make Danny smile and Steve's always seemed to be changing. He was sure it had been the Rocky theme last week.

"Hey, you with Graham yet?" she asked him. "Danny and Chin are here, I'm putting you on speaker."

"Okay. Yeah, I got him," he said in a low whisper. "I got eyes on him. He's armed. He's holding seven hostages. Behavior's pretty erratic."

"You mean, as opposed to most hostage-takers that are calm and composed?" Danny said snarkily, looking at Mitch.

"No, with his training, this scenario shouldn't bother him," Steve said over the phone, "but he's paranoid. He's unstable." He paused. "You know what? Check if he's been treated psychiatrically."

"Okay, we're in the house right now," she said and looked up, "Chin, go see if this guy's on any meds."

"Hey, while we got you," Danny said, coming closer to the phone. "We found something. It's a manuscript stashed away. It's in Russian— Mitch said she could read it."

"Yeah?"

"Regular super girl over here," he teased her.

"Shove off, Danny," she shook her head. "And there was a safe-deposit key in it, so if it's local, we can subpoena the contents," she told Steve.

"Good. Sounds like you're making progress," he said.

"Yeah," they said in unison then shook their head. "You, uh, you miss me, don't you?" Danny teased his partner.

Steve heard Mitch scoff and call them ridiculous in the background. "Oh, yeah. Wish you were here, but you don't swim, do you?"

"I don't swim?" Danny said, sounding only mock-offended. "I swim very well, actually. I just chose not to."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, put Michelle back on, would you?" Steve crouched down on the ship, coming down a flight of stairs, the retired navy man behind him

"You talking to your wife?" Ed asked furry eyebrows narrowed on Steve.

"I'm talking to my partners," he said as, in the victim's home, Chin came down the stairs.

"Oh, Graham's medicine cabinet is full-on stacked," Chin said. "I got sleeping pills, lithium, and clonazepam," Steve heard him say in the background of the phone.

"Clonazepam," Mitch repeated closer to the phone, easier for him to hear. She recognized the name. "Wait a minute. That's an antipsychotic."

"Sometimes used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder," Steve added.

"All the prescriptions are from Dr. Klesko," Chin said, turning the bottle over in his hands. "Bottles are three weeks old, but they're practically full."

"Okay, this is a really stupid question," Danny interrupted loudly. "What happens if Graham stops taking his medicine?"

On the U.S.S Missouri, Steve heard the man in question shout loudly. "Shut up! You don't wanna make me angry!"

"I think we just found out," he said. "I'm also thinking the longer this goes on, the worse it's gonna get." Mitch heard a clanging noise on his side of the phone.

"Steve?" Mitch asked.

He didn't answer.

"Steven?"

Then the call ended.

* * *

A/N: Another chap! Lemme know what you think? Reviews are love. Tell me what you'd like to see with Mitch and Steve!

also, for Bron: Thanks for coming back! And thanks for thinking of me; my thumb has been all healed up for a while now. I have collected new injuries, however. I'm kind of a super-klutz.


	46. Ho'apono Part 3

EPISODE 7 "Ho'apono" (Accept)

Part 3

* * *

"Who's out there?" Graham shouted.

"McGarrett, I'm sorry," Ed murmured.

"Go back to the office, okay?" Steve jumped up, giving the older man his bag and his gun. "Lock the door. Stay in there."

"What are you gonna do?"

Steve looked at the older man and took his hat with 'U.S.S Missouri' printed on it in gold. "I'm gonna cover you," he said, nudging him away from the scene "Go."

"I swear if you come in here," Graham called, "I'll kill all of these people."

Steve came in a different door than the other man expected, raising his hands as Graham locked him gun on him and shouted. "Hands up!"

"Hey. Don't shoot, man," Steve said, trying to inject the right amount of uncertainty into his voice. "I was- I got lost. I was looking for the bathroom. I don't understand. What's happening?"

"All right. Hat off," Graham seethed. Steve reached on hand up and tipped the hat off of his head. "Hands behind your head."

"Please. Please, don't shoot me."

"Turn around." He did as instructed. "On your knees." Graham came up behind him, patting down the pockets of Steve's cargo pants and then gripping onto the back of Steve's shirt, forcing him up and then shoving him into the other hostages, between two older men both wearing blue 'Hawaiian style' shirts. "Get down there. Keep your mouth shut."

After a few minutes, Steve moved slightly over to the red-faced panting woman. "Hey. Hey, you okay? You don't look too good," he said. The man next to her rubbed her back slightly but looked at a loss for what to do.

"Hey. No talking here!" Graham snapped.

"I don't think she's well," Steve looked up at the armed man. "I think she's sick, man. Take a look at her."

"She's fine."

"I'm okay," she nodded at Steve.

"Can we get some water at least?"

"What part of 'no talking' do you not follow?"

* * *

"Dr. Klesko, we've got three hours to figure this out," Danny asked the woman as he and Chin walked with her— Mitch in the car reading through the Russian journal— on the grassy lawn of the Makalapa Naval Health Clinic. "Can you tell us why you were treating Graham?"

"His team walked into an ambush in Ba'qubah, Iraq," the short dark-haired doctor in her naval uniform answered. "In the crossfire were a group of children and none of them survived. The trauma took a huge psychological toll," she said. "Mood swings, violent outbursts. It escalated to the point the MPs were called to his house for a domestic disturbance."

"You diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder?" Chin inferred.

"Yes, and we were making progress," she said earnestly. "Graham was showing real signs of improvement. And then he had a setback."

"What kind of setback?" Danny prodded.

"He became convinced that the drugs were clouding his judgment," he said, "so he started skipping doses. And that only made his paranoia worse. It got to the point that he started experiencing blackouts."

Danny's eyebrows lifted. "He started passing out?"

"No," the doctor shook her head. "PTSD patients can slip into a dissociative fugue state. It happens when they get agitated or perceive a threat," she explained. "They can become enraged, sometimes violent. And when it's over, they have no recollection of what happened."

"So it's possible Graham killed his wife without even realizing it?" Chin said.

"I'd say it's more than possible," Danny nodded.

* * *

"Don't. Don't," McGarrett chanted quietly, noticed just seconds before he moved what the man beside him was about to do. "Don't do it," he said softly as the large man pushed himself off the ground and swung a large first towards Graham only for the SEAL to catch it, slamming his own fist into the civilian man's gut and then grabbing hold of his clothing and ramming him headfirst into the brass structural pol in the center of the room.

Steve discreetly caught the pocket knife that skidded across the floor and stood, rushing forward, only to be halted by Graham's gun.

"Who are you?" he said suspiciously, gun aimed. "You're not a tourist. I said, who are you?" he became agitated.

"My name is Steve McGarrett," he said calmly, hand out in front of him. "I'm Five-0. But before that, I was a SEAL just like you. BUD/S Class 203."

"They send you in here to get me?" He said.

"No," Steve shook his head. "I came in by myself. I don't want anyone else involved until we get a chance to talk straight. Okay?" he said. "You can tell me what really happened. For your service, I thought you deserved at least that much."

"I didn't kill my wife," Graham said strongly, after lowering the gun slowly.

"Okay," Steve nodded, lowering his hands as well. "I believe you, man. We're trying to get to the bottom of that right now."

Graham looked down, suddenly whispering. "Where is it?" He gripped his gun in both hands once again. "Where's the knife?" he raised it. "Where's the knife?" he demanded urgently.

"Wait," Steve called, "Graham. Graham, listen," he said. "Nobody one took your knife. Alright? Maybe you lost it. But you have a gun," he pointed out, "Graham, you have a gun. That's right. You're in control," Steve said. "Everybody here knows that." They nodded readily. "We all know who's in control here. But you gotta listen to me. If you're telling me the truth, my team is gonna find that out. They're working the case as we speak. But you're not making it easy on us, Graham," she shook his head and gestured around them slowly, "holding all these people here. You gotta do the right thing for yourself, for your daughter."

"Where's Lily?" his face pinched angrily, raising his gun suddenly once again and pointing it at Steve.

"My team has her," he backed up a step. "She's safe. I promise you," he said. "You have my word," he held up one hand in a manner reminiscent of an oath. "Let's just let a couple of folks go."

"Come on," Graham shook his head as if the idea were laughable. "You're a SEAL and your best tactical advice is for me to let go of my only leverage?"

"What are you talking about?" Steve said and pointed to himself. "You got me. Take me instead."

"I have you too."

"Come on, Graham," Steve shoot his head. "You gotta give me something, man. You gotta show me a little goodwill. At least let me check on this guy before he bleeds out," he motioned to the injured man lying on the ground.

"Fine. Clean him up," Graham shook his head.

"Empty your pockets and your purses," Steve said.

"Don't do anything," Graham roared over him.

Steve held his hands out to the side. "I gotta stop the bleeding here. I got no supplies. I need some nail glue, a sewing kit, anything. That's it."  
Graham paused, then conceded, saying "Empty them. Don't try anything."

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay," Steve knelt by the bleeding man and examined the profusely bleeding head wound. "Let me take a look. All right, you messed him up pretty good, Graham. The good news is you didn't kill him.

"I know," he said. "If I wanted him dead, he'd be dead."

* * *

"Hey, pretty ladies," Kamekona grinned kindly, setting the tray of two large cones of shaved ice in front of Kono and Lily. "Two biggies on the house."

"Aw, Thank you," Kono smiled.

"No problem," he looked from her to the tiny little auburn-haired girl. "Anything else, just holler."

"Okay. That's yours," Kono motioned to the half-cherry half-lemon ice and handed her a green straw-spoon. "Mm. This one's mine." She scooped a bit of the deep purple, grape-flavored ice into her mouth and then looked over at Lily. "Is it good?" she asked. Lily didn't answer. "My favorite is grape. You know why? Makes my, uh, tongue purple," she stuck her tongue out at the younger girl. Lily smiled a little, almost laughing. "See?"

Lily only looked like she was eating the cherry flavored part. Kono brushed the hair the wind blew in her face out of the way and asked. "You don't like the lemon?"

"Daddy eats that part," Lily said, the first thing she'd said all day.

* * *

Steve got the man sitting in an upright position, swiping a couple of useful things from the pile of knick-knacks and loose ends the hostages had piled on the table while Graham looked out the window, like one woman's blush and a small makeup kit. "So this one night at BUD/S," Steve began, unprompted, "me and a couple of the guys were sneaking back onto the base, right?" Graham looked at him as he used a bit of nail glue to temporarily SEAL the man's head wound. "And we hear this real mean crusty," he changed his voice to mimic the sound, "'Hey, you ladies ready to get wet and sandy'?"

"Master Chief White?" Graham said deeply in recognition.

"Yes, sir," Steve nodded.

"Bet he wasn't too happy, huh? "

"What, are you kidding me?" Steve said. "He was thrilled to catch us. He gave us five extra hours of cold-water conditioning. We didn't get out of the water until dawn." He wiped a bit of blood away from the other man's wound and said, "Now, that's tough love for you." He paused, "So, Graham, tell me about Noreen. Where did you guys meet?"

"Germany, six and a half years ago," Graham answered. "I was traveling through Europe on leave. She was working at an all-ranks club in Ramstein. She had just immigrated there with her daughter. Three months later, we were married," he said."

"From Russia, right?" Steve chanced.

Graham's eyes narrowed. "How did you know?"

"I told you," he said, "my people are investigating."

"Well, she changed her name just before we moved to the States. She didn't like the name Irina anyway," he shook his head. "She just wanted to put her past behind her, you know," he said, "start a new life."

"And her daughter, Lily," Steve said, stepping away from the wounded man."She was from a previous marriage?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Lily's father died just before she was born. Lily," he paused. "I can't imagine what she's going through."

"Graham, what happened this morning?"

"We fought," he said. "We argued." He shook his head, shrugging. "I don't even know what it was about, I- I know I haven't been easy to live with," he admitted. "Ever since I've been back, you know, it's been difficult," he said. "Noreen says sometimes that she's scared of me. That I'm not even the same guy that she was married to." He sniffed.

"But I was dealing with it. I was getting better. You know, the shrink says, you know, 'When you get worked up, just take two laps around the block, you know, clear your head.' And that's what I did."

"Right," Steve nodded, "So you left the house?"

"And when I came back, there she was in the middle of the living room," Graham said. "And I tried to resuscitate her. That's when the cops- they show up. After all Noreen and I had been through, I figured they'd think I'd hurt her," he said. "I was scared. I ran." Tears escaped the corner of his eyes as he talked about it, running down his face.

"I'd never hurt Noreen," he said. "It means everything for Lily to know that I didn't do this to her mother."

"I get it, Graham," Steve said, moving a step forward.

It was the wrong move. Suddenly, Graham was shouting, gun raised at Steve once again. "Whoa. What are you doing?"

"What?" Steve backed a step, holding his hands up in a harmless manner.

"Back,"Graham demanded. "You don't think I know what you're doing?" he said.

"Listen, I'm not doing anything," Steve said, hands in front of him.

"We're done. Let's go. You're done playing nurse."

"Graham, this guy needs a CAT scan," Steve gestured to the seated man with an open palm. "He needs to get off the ship. Keep me," he said. "Keep all these other people, but let this guy go. Prove to me, Graham. Prove to me that you're a good man."

"All right," he nodded after a moment, lowering the gun slightly. "Hey, you're free to go."

The wounded man looked at Steve who pointed over his shoulder at the door and moved out of the way. "Go. Get out of here."

"All right. Everybody else, we're moving out," Graham said, then said eyes on Steve, "Except you," he said loudly, pointing his gun at Steve. "You're going in there," he gestured to the officer head and shower. "Uh-uh," he stopped Steve when he moved around the table in his way toward Graham. "Around," meaning the other way. "I'm not interested in playing any more of your head games. Get in," he said, watching closely as Steve opened the door and stepped backward inside, ducking his head under the from. "Close the door," he said, then shouted at the civilians to "Get back!" until they scrambled out of his way. He used a bit of metal chain from the kitchen and the large soup spoon to jam the door in place and create a makeshift deadbolt.

Steve turned the light on inside and exhaled. "Terrific."

He saw a missed call from Danny so he returned it. "Where are you?" the blond asked harshly with no lead-in

"The head," Steve said, "Graham barricaded me in here. Mitch with you?"

"No she's translating Russian," he said offhandedly. "You're stuck in a bathroom? I could have gotten locked into a bathroom."

"It's a long story," Steve sighed.

"Okay. I'm calling SWAT," Danny said.

"No, you won't call SWAT," Steve said strongly. "I'll find a way out of here. Just tell me, what have you got?"

"Okay," Danny said frustratedly sitting down in his office at HQ. "Graham's psychiatrist said that he's been experiencing blackouts, which means that he may have killed his wife without even realizing it."

"No," Steve shook his head, "it doesn't make sense."

"How does that not make sense?" Danny asked. "How does that not make sense to you? I mean, the guy fled the crime scene with the murder weapon in his hand, huh?" he said. "I mean, I am no detective. Wait a minute," he said, holding his hand aloft. "Where am I? Oh, I'm a detective. He is still our prime suspect." Steve resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead, looking around for a mean to escape.

"Graham identified me a threat and didn't do anything, okay?" Steve pointed out. "He could've killed me, but didn't."

"All right, listen. I know this guy is a SEAL, all right?" Danny began, "And brothers in arms, the whole thing, I get that. But that does not mean he didn't kill his wife."

"You're right," Steve sighed. "You're right. But I promised him that we'd investigate this murder," he said.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Danny said, "I am investigating. Unfortunately, he's our only suspect and in my experience," he said, voice rising, "when you only have one suspect, he's usually the one that you put in jail, okay? You want me to broaden the search, fine, but you're gonna have to give me something else."

"As a matter of fact," Steve thought, "I actually might have a new lead. Graham said that Noreen was a Russian citizen. They moved here six years ago."

"That would explain why she has no record prior to '04," Danny said.

"Right. And she changed her identity before they came here. Her first name is Irina. So dig deeper," he said. "You know what? Maybe that manuscript you found can help."

"Okay. Well, Mitchy is working on that now— said she'd be done in about an hour," Danny checked the time. "Oh, and the key, I got a match to a safe-deposit box at First Hawaiian Bank. They're sending the contents over right now." There was a loud clattering noise outside of the head. "What was that? What the hell was that?" Danny asked worriedly.

"I'll call you back. I'll call you back," Steve repeated and hung, up, raising his fists and taking position next to the door, only to lower them when it was Ed who opened it.

"I figured you'd want your things back," he handed Steve his bag.

"How did you get past Graham without him seeing you?" Steve asked.

"Well, I know things about this ship that aren't on your map," the old man smirked.

"I thought I told you to stay put."

"Hm?" he hummed, eyebrows furrowing, though a smile also arose. "I'm an old man. I don't always hear so good."


	47. Ho'apono Part 4

EPISODE 7 "Ho'apono" (Accept)

Part 4

* * *

Mitch picked up her phone "Viva Las Vegas" playing loudly for all of two seconds before she put it to her ear, her eyes still scanning over the words as she wrote in English her best translation on another paper. She continued to translate as she spoke into the phone, "Now's not the best time, Mary."

"How did- Nevermind, Where's my brother?" she got right into it.

"He's-" Mitch shook her head. "He's a little busy. Can it wait?"

"Actually, no," Mary's voice was urgent. "Why are there pictures of burned corpses in the study?"

"What are you talking about?" Mitch's eyes narrowed.

"Do you really not know?" Mary didn't sound like she didn't believe that for a second. "I found this tool kit," she said, "and it has all this weird stuff in it— like a tape recorder, crime scene photos and some postcards from Japan?"

Suddenly Mitch realized what Mary was talking about. "Mary, put the box back, okay?" Mitch said urgently sitting upright in her seat.

"What? Why?"

"It's evidence, okay? Just put it back," Michelle said harshly.

"Evidence of what?" Mary asked.

Michelle groaned. "Look, it was something your dad was investigating, a case he was working on... he wanted Steve to find it."

"Why?"

"Mary, please," Mitch said, "Okay, please, just do me a favor and just put the goddamn box back where it was for now, okay?" she asked. "Please!"

"Okay, okay. Fine, I will," Mary said.

There was a pause. "Tell me you're putting the box back."

"Relax," Mary said. "I will."

"So you're putting it back, right now, right?"

"Jesus, yes," Mary rolled her eyes.

"Thank you," Mitch said. "I'll have Steve call you when he can, kay?"

"Yeah. Bye."

Mitch rubbed her eyes and looked back at the journal, then at the phone in her hand. "Well, shit," she said aloud to no one but herself.

* * *

In the kitchen, Steve laid Graham's knife on the table.

"You had that fellow's knife and you were standing right next to him and you didn't take him out?" Ed questioned.

"There's a way to do this where nobody has to die," Steve said, "Besides, this is evidence," he pointed out. "Look at the dried blood on this knife," he held the drawn knife for the other man to see. "There's a fingerprint in there. I think it was put there at the time of the murder."

"Hm," Ed hummed.

"Watch this," he said, pulling the blush out of his pocket and loading up the brush, swiping it gently over the fingerprint to make it visible. "This could be what clears him."

"You really think he's innocent, don't you?" Ed said.

"My team's motto is 'leave no man behind'," Steve shrugged. "Now we just need to find him."

"Where do you think he took the hostages?"

"He'll need another place with a good view of the gangway," Steve said, "I think the best place would be the pilothouse."

"Well, I know a shortcut," Ed said.

"Lead the way," Steve motioned.

"Took me a while," Ed began as he lead Steve down a safer route to the pilothouse, "but I swore that I knew the name Steve McGarrett. Your grandfather was in the Navy, wasn't he?"

"Yes, sir. Stationed here at Pearl," Steve looked at him, surprised.

"Yeah," the old man smiled, "I remember, heh."

"Wait a minute," Steve stopped the other man.

"Tough son of a gun."

"You served with my grandfather?" Steve asked.

"On the Arizona," he said.

"Were you one of the lucky ones?"

"It wasn't luck," Ed shook his head. "I wasn't on board that day. I lied about my age to enlist, ya know. I was 16 at the time," he said. "They found out, but the officers liked me and they kept me around as a runner," he paused, "So that's what I was doing December 7th, 1941, running messages to the Army at Fort Shafter across the harbor. I could see those explosions," he told Steve, "those men I admired so greatly. They gave their lives for all of us." He sighed and shook his head. "And I couldn't do a damned thing for them. I walk past the Arizona Memorial every day and I am reminded of their sacrifice." He looked at Steve. "The man that you are named after was a real hero," he said. "You should be very proud."

"I am proud," Steve said surely. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"What are you drawing?" Kono asked, looking over at the stick figures Lily was coloring.

"Me, Mommy and Daddy," Lily said. Kono flipped the paper over and drew a stick figure riding a poorly drawn surfboard over a line of blue. "What are you drawing?" Lily asked her.

"This is me," Kono said, "surfing this morning. Can you draw what you were doing this morning?"

Lily nodded, picking up a few new crayons. "Okay."

"What is that?" Kono asked for a moment.

"That's my hiding place when there's too much yelling," Lily said, pointing to the brown box and the stick figure underneath it.

"You hide under the couch?" Kono asked her.

"Sometimes."

"Are those Daddy's shoes?" Kono pointed to the shoes drawn to the side of it.

"No," Lily said.

"Whose shoes are they?" Kono asked. Lily fidgeted but didn't look at her. "Hey, you don't have to be afraid. Nothing is gonna happen to you," she said. "You can tell me."

"That's the man that yelled at Mommy," she said.

"Was Daddy there when they were yelling?" Kono asked, but Lily didn't answer. "Hey, Lily, this is really important," she pleaded. "Who was that man? And what was he saying to Mommy?"

"I can't talk funny like he and Mommy did," Lily said, looking up at Kono. "But they yelled a lot." She paused, looking at her drawing. "Then Mommy got hurt."

"Hey, do you wanna see where I work?' Kon asked, but Lily wasn't paying attention, instead staring at a silver-haired man in a suit with reflecting sunglasses. There was a terrified expression on her face.

"Lily, who is that? Who's that man?" Kono asked, leaving Lily at the table to talk to him, maybe five feet away. "Excuse me. Sir?"

Then Lily screamed, having moved away from the table.

Kono turned just in time to see one man step out of the van and pick the little girl up. "Lily!" She shouted, but she could not catch up.

He'd taken her.

* * *

"Look, I only took my eyes off Lily for a second," Kono told Chin, walking with him.

"They were targeting her. We didn't know that. You couldn't have prevented it," he said while Danny and Mitch talked to Steve on the phone.

"So we got an APB out on the vehicle," Mitch filled him in, "and H.P.D.'s setting up checkpoints. We got no plates, but Kono got eyes on the abductors."

"Is she okay?" Steve asked.

"No, I don't think so," Danny told him.

"She will be," Mitch said. "We didn't know Lily was being targeted. Kono feels like it's her fault. We get her back. We fix this."

"Get any hits on those fingerprints I sent?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Danny said. "I got a second set on the knife. They definitely don't belong to Graham. They definitely don't belong to Noreen either," he said, "but they're not showing up in any H.P. , so I'm expanding the search nationally."

"Great. So we've got abductors, got a witness that puts another man in the house at the time of the murder, we got somebody else's prints on the blade," Steve listed.

"Danny this is really starting to look like-"

"Graham didn't do it, I know," he said. "But it's not over yet."  
"You two need to find a match on that print."

"Well duh," Mitch rolled her eyes.

" _You_ need to end this hostage situation," Danny shot back. "And whatever you do, please, under no circumstance tell this guy about his daughter."

"He should know," Steve said.

"No, no. He should _not_ know," Mitch interrupted passionately.

"What she said," Danny agreed. "Trust me, as a father, the last thing you wanna hear is something happened to your kid. You add that to his irrational state of mind, things are only gonna get worse."

"Copy that," Steve said, though he did not sound happy about it.

"Steve," she pressed.

"I said, copy that," he shook his head.

"Mmm," she hummed as Danny said, "Don't get soft on this guy, partner, all right? Not until we have absolute proof that he didn't kill his wife." He paused, "And if he did and it comes down to it, are you gonna be able to take this guy out?"

"It's not gonna come to that."

She did not like that answer.


End file.
